Control device, control method, recording medium, program, and building

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a control device, control method, recording medium, and program, and building, wherein intelligent and active integration of electronic apparatuses and dwelling-places can be realized. A receiving unit  21  receives broadcasting signals, and supplies the signals to a receiving information determining unit  22 . The receiving information determining unit  22  acquires a voice signal from the broadcasting signals supplied from the receiving unit  21 , and a voice recognizing unit  23  subjects the voice signal to speech recognition. A determining unit  24  detects danger information such as information relating to a person such as a burglar, or information relating to a district where the person has appeared, or the like from the voice signal subjected to speech recognition by the voice recognizing unit  23 . An actuator control unit  28  controls, by deforming the shape of a shape-variable member disposed around a building gap based on the danger information detected by the determining unit  24 , the status of the facility of the building. That is to say, the actuator control unit  28  controls, for example, a door to be locked. The present invention can be applied to, for example, a house having a door.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a control device and control method,recording medium, program, and a building, and particularly relates to acontrol device and control method, recording medium, program, and abuilding, wherein control is performed with regard to a building.

BACKGROUND ART

Conventional dwelling-places have been for enduring rain, dew, and soforth, but electronic apparatuses such as so-called electric appliances(home electronic apparatuses) have been spread through many homes withthe times, so that the demand of people to dwelling-places has changedand integration of electronic apparatuses and dwelling-places has beendemanded. Note that hereinafter, dwelling-places are also referred to asa house or residence system.

An example of electronic apparatuses and dwelling-places being unitedand integrated (morphotype) is a residence called a TRON residence whichincludes an electric door which is electrically opened and closed, anautomatic opening-and-closing window which is automatically opened andclosed, a chair with a pulse measurement function of which measurementresults can be transmitted and received via a network or the like, and acontrol device which can control all of the electronic apparatuses inthe case in which the electronic apparatuses include a CPU (CentralProcessing Unit). As for a method for electrically opening and closing adoor, a method has been known wherein an object on a doorway is detectedby casting emitted light of the light emitting element of a luminescenceunit on a floor as two or more spot lights through a division lens, anda door is electrically opened and closed depending on the detectionresult, for example (e.g., see Patent Document 1).

Also, various arrangements have been made to conventional houses, suchas sliding shutters or double-glazed windows to prevent intrusion ofburglars or the like.

Description will be made regarding a door provided to a conventionalhouse with reference to FIG. 1. With a conventional house, for example,a door panel 4 which is opened and closed towards the inside or outsidethe house for going in and out from the house is fixed and jointed to anouter wall 1 making up the wall outside the house using screws with twohinges of a hinge 6-1 and hinge 6-2 serving as joint members.

Between the outer wall 1 and the door panel 4, i.e., between the edgeportion (hereinafter, referred to as outer wall edge as appropriate) ofan opening portion which is opened for providing the door panel 4 and anouter edge 3 serving as the frame portion of the outer edge of the doorpanel 4, a gap 2 is provided. The gap 2 is provided for preventing caseswherein it becomes impossible to open and close the door panel 4smoothly without resistance due to the temperature of the atmospheresurrounding the door panel 4 or the outer wall 1 changing, which causesthe outer wall 1 or the door panel 4 to expand and change in shape,leading to the outer wall edge of the outer wall 1 and the outer edge 3of the door panel 4 fitting tightly against each other.

The door panel 4 is attached with a doorknob 5, hinge 6-1, and hinge6-2. The door panel 4 is an outward-opening door or inward-opening door,and is opened and closed towards the inside or outside the house withthe hinge 6-1 and hinge 6-2 joined at the left end of the door panel 4serving as fulcrums in FIG. 1 by a person who goes in and out from thehouse grasping the doorknob 5 attached to the door panel 4 to twist itto the right or left, further pulling the doorknob 5 to the front orpushing out the doorknob 5 from the state twisted to the right or theleft.

The doorknob 5 is provided with a lock mechanism, of which the inside isnot shown. The door panel 4, which is opened and closed at the time ofgoing in and out the house, can be locked with the lock mechanism notshown. Accordingly, in the event that the door panel 4 is locked withthe lock mechanism equipped with the doorknob 5, even if a person graspsthe doorknob 5 to attempt to twist it to the right or left, the personcannot twist the doorknob 5, so cannot open and close the door panel 4towards outside or inside the house.

The hinge 6-1 and hinge 6-2 are joint members which join the outer wall1 to the door panel 4, and are configured such that two plates arecombined as a pair, one edges of the respective two plates are joined ata rod shaft, and thus, the two plates are opened and closed with the rodshaft serving as a base shaft. One plate of the hinge 6-1 and hinge 6-2is fixed to the left frame, which is the left end portion of the outeredge 3 of the door panel 4, with the screws, and further the other plateof the hinge 6-1 and hinge 6-2 is fixed to the outer wall 1 with thescrews, whereby the door panel 4 and the outer wall 1 are joined suchthat the door panel 4 can be opened and closed.

On the other hand, with Patent Document 2, a key device is describedwherein a key body is changed to an unlocked state by a code serving asan optical signal being exchanged between a key such as a key plate forexample and a key body in which a latch mechanism is built in, thesebeing combined to form a the key device, for example.

Further, with Patent Document 3, a power supply device for an electricappliance is described wherein a computer detects the value of a currentflowing in an electric appliance from an electric socket for connectingthe appliance, and in the event that determination is made that theelectric appliance is in a standby state, power supply to the electricappliance is shut off.

Incidentally, examples of a common device utilized within a building(indoor) such as a residence, public facility, and the like include areceiving device which receives a broadcasting signal such asterrestrial analog broadcasting/BS (Broadcasting Satellite) or CS(Communication Satellite) digital broadcasting/terrestrial digitalbroadcasting, and outputs the received image or voice to a display orspeaker connected thereto. Such a receiving device is employed as atelevision receiver or the like, for example. In other words, a devicein which the receiving device, display, and speaker are integrated is,for example, a television receiver.

The receiving device outputs the broadcasting signal of the channeltuned in by a user operating a remote commander (hereinafter, referredto as remote control) or the like attached to the receiving device tothe display and speaker as an image or voice. Thus, the user can viewand listen to a program of the tuned-in channel.

In recent years, with digital broadcasting which has been rapidlyspread, the number of channels tuned in by a user has become great, andthus, the user sometimes feels the operation for tuning in the channelwhich is broadcasting the desired program to be troublesomeness.

Examples of such a receiving device for receiving a digital broadcastingsignal, in order to improve the operability of a user, include areceiving device wherein preferred channels are registered such that thereceiving device can tune in the desired channel quickly from thebroadcasting signals of a great number of channels received by thereceiving device (e.g., see Patent Document 4).

Also, with some receiving devices, an arrangement is made wherein thereis no need for channel switching operations by creating a virtualchannel in which the desired program alone specified by a user isselected and broadcasted (e.g., see Patent Document 5).

The receiving device which is applied to a conventional televisionreceiver and the like as described above is for realizing improvement ofoperability in the case of a user tuning in a channel.

-   [Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application    Publication No. 2003-003750-   [Patent Document 2] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application    Publication No. 5-141139 (Japanese Patent No. 3286995)-   [Patent Document 3] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application    Publication No. 2002-186187 (Japanese Patent No. 3417919)-   [Patent Document 4] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application    Publication No. 2000-165769-   [Patent Document 5] Japanese Unexamined Patent application    Publication No. 2000-341596

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

However, with conventional integration forms between electronicapparatuses and dwelling-places, the electronic apparatuses haveelectrically performed only what a person has performed within thedwelling-places. That is to say, for example, an electric doorelectrically opens and closes a door instead of a person opening andclosing the door, and an automatic opening-and-closing windowautomatically opens and closes a window instead of a person opening andclosing the window.

Accordingly, with the conventional integration forms between electronicapparatuses and dwelling-places, the electronic apparatuses performoperations as to facilities present in the dwelling-places instead of aperson, so this cannot be called as intelligent and active integrationbetween electronic apparatuses and dwelling-places. That is to say, ithas been difficult to operate the facilities of dwelling-places so as todynamically determine a surrounding situation, and let people live morecomfortable lives.

FIG. 2 illustrates a state wherein the lock mechanism of the doorknob 5in FIG. 1 has been destroyed.

In FIG. 2, in the event that the unshown lock mechanism of the doorknob5 has been destroyed due to a certain cause, the door panel 4 is in astate in which anyone can easily open and close it. This case allowsburglars, robbers, and the other prowlers to open the door panel 4 andeasily invade the house.

Accordingly, for example, in a case wherein no user is present in ahouse, it is preferable for the house to operate intelligently and alsodynamically such that the house itself can recognize danger informationall the time, and correspond to the danger information all the time, forexample, when receiving an airwave which is broadcasting the reportwhich tells of a risk threatening safety, such as incident informationthat a burglar has struck near the house, or disaster information that atyphoon has landed and that warnings, such as heavy rain and floodingwarnings, have been issued, by perceiving danger from the contents ofthe broadcast received, for example, such that even if a burglardestroys the key, the house prevents the burglar from opening andclosing the door automatically, or, in order to prevent the damage ofelectric shock and fire by short-circuiting as the result of flooding orwater immersion, the house automatically turns power supply toelectronic appliances off.

However, heretofore, crime prevention measure as to a prowler and thelike, and behavior such as turning power supply to electronicapparatuses on/off have been performed by a person perceiving danger,i.e., a person performs those by operating the facilities of a house asnecessary. Accordingly, in the event of no persons being present in thehouse, or even if a person is present but is in a panic, it isimpossible to prevent a prowler or the like from invading from the dooror a window, or to take measures such as turning off the power supply toelectronic appliances, in real-time in light of danger, socountermeasures for danger prevention are far from sufficient.

Also, no receiving device of which user operability is improved byintegrating (associating) the receiving device with a building in whichit is installed has been proposed. For example, in the event that thereare multiple users who inhabit a building such as a residence, the roomfrequently utilized by each of the multiple users is determined ashis/her own room, for example. Accordingly, associating the respectiverooms of the building with the receiving devices to be installed thereinenables the receiving device to tune in to broadcasting set to the userof that room, so it is convenient for the user to readily view andlisten to his/her preferred programs.

Further, no arrangement has been proposed so far wherein the facilitieswithin a building are aggressively (spontaneously (dynamically)) driven(run) in conjunction with the contents of a broadcasting signal which isreceived by a receiving device within the building. For example, with abuilding such as a residence, an automatic door or the like has beenprovided for automatically opening and closing the door of the entranceor a window, but is for mechanically driving the facilities within thebuilding simply instead of the labor of a person, so is not related to areceiving device within the building.

The present invention has been made in light of such a situation, and itis an object of the present invention to realize intelligent activeintegration between electronic apparatuses and dwelling-places.

A control device according to the present invention comprises: controlmeans for changing the configuration of at least one component, ofcomponents making up a building; and acquiring means for acquiringstatus information; wherein the control means change the configurationphysically or visually based on the status information acquired by theacquiring means.

The status information may be information which is transmitted bybroadcasting.

The status information may be information indicating the status of aperson present in the component, illumination in the component,temperature in the component, volume in the component, information to betransmitted by broadcasting, or point-in-time.

The control device may further comprise status information storing meanswhich stores a list relating to the status information.

The control means may capable of changing the configuration by deformingthe shape of a shape-variable member disposed around a gap formed in thebuilding based on the status information.

The control device may further comprise determining means fordetermining importance of the status information, and the control meansdeform the shape of the shape-variable member based on the importance.

The control device may further comprise status information storing meansstoring a list which associates the status information with theimportance of the status information thereof.

The shape variable member may change in shape by being subjected toapplication of pressure under a predetermined condition, the controlmeans comprising: preparing means for performing preparation, by givinga predetermined condition to the shape-variable member, to deform theshape thereof; pressure measurement means for measuring pressure appliedto the shape-variable member by an actuator for applying pressure; andactuator control means for controlling the actuator which appliespressure to the shape-variable member depending on the pressure value tobe measured by the pressure measurement means.

The shape-variable member may change in shape by being subjected toapplication of pressure under a predetermined condition in which theshape-variable member is in a electricity conducting state.

The shape-variable member may make transition to a shape-fixed state inwhich the shape thereof is not changed, and a shape-variable state inwhich the shape thereof can be changed.

The shape-variable member may be made up of shape memory alloy.

The control means may change the configuration relating to power supplyto an electric socket installed in the building based on the statusinformation.

The control device may further comprise order storing means storing alist relating to the order for shutting off power supply to anelectronic appliance connected to the electric socket, and the controlmeans shut off power supply to the electric socket connected with theelectronic appliance in the order in accordance with the list.

The control device may further comprise correlation acquiring means foracquiring the correlation between the electric socket and the electronicapparatus connected to the electric socket, and the control means shutoff power supply to an electric socket connected with the electronicapparatus based on the correlation.

The correlation acquiring means may acquire the correlation, in theevent of the status information being acquired by the acquiring means.

The plug of the electronic apparatus connected to the electric socketmay comprise: storing means storing identification information whichidentifies said electronic apparatus; and an antenna for transmittingsaid identification information stored in said storing means usingairwaves, and the correlation acquiring means recognize the electronicapparatus based on the identification information transmitted by theantenna.

The correlation acquiring means may recognize said electronic apparatusconnected to the electric socket using a wireless tag.

The plug of the electronic apparatus connected to the electric socketmay transmit identification information which identifies the electronicapparatus using airwaves, and the correlation acquiring means receivethe identification information using the airwaves through an antennahaving directivity, and recognize the electronic apparatus from theidentification information thereof.

The correlation acquiring means may recognize the position of the plugby receiving the airwaves transmitted from the plug of the electronicapparatus connected to the electric socket through an antenna havingdirectivity, and recognize the correlation based on the position of theplug thereof.

The control device may further comprise determining means fordetermining importance of the status information acquired by theacquiring means, and the control means change the configuration relatingto power supply to the electronic apparatus connected to the electricsocket based on the importance.

The control device may further comprise status information storing meansstoring a list which associates the status information with theimportance of the status information thereof.

The control device may further comprise: image display means fordisplaying an image; and function control means for changing thefunction of the image display means, and the function control meanscontrol the function of the image display means depending on the changeof the configuration.

The image display means may be made up of a windowpane.

The function control means may change the transparency of thewindowpane.

The control device may further comprise image display means fordisplaying an image, the image display means are made up of a wall, andthe control means visually change the configuration by displaying theimage on the image display means based on the status information.

A control method according to the present invention comprises: a controlstep for changing the configuration of at least one component ofcomponents making up a building; and an acquiring step for acquiringstatus information; wherein the processing in the control step changesthe configuration physically or visually based on the status informationacquired with the processing in the acquiring step.

A program recorded in a recording medium according to the presentinvention comprises: a control step for changing the configuration of atleast one component, of components making up a building; and anacquiring step for acquiring status information; wherein the processingin the control step changes the configuration physically or visuallybased on the status information acquired with the processing in theacquiring step.

A program according to the present invention comprises a control stepfor changing the configuration of at least one component, of componentsmaking up a building; and an acquiring step for acquiring statusinformation; wherein the processing in the control step changes theconfiguration physically or visually based on the status informationacquired with the processing in the acquiring step.

A building according to the present invention comprises: control meansfor changing the configuration of at least one component of componentsmaking up a building; and acquiring means for acquiring statusinformation; wherein the control means change the configurationphysically or visually based on the status information acquired by theacquiring means.

The control device may be an independent device, or may be a block forperforming the control processing of one device.

The control device, control method, recording medium, and program, andbuilding according to the present invention acquire status information,and physically or visually change the configuration of at least onecomponent based on the status information, of components making up thebuilding.

According to the present invention, intelligent active integrationbetween electronic apparatuses and dwelling-places can be realized.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram describing a door provided in a conventional house.

FIG. 2 is a diagram describing a case wherein the lock mechanism of thedoorknob 5 in FIG. 1 is destroyed.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a house towhich the present invention is applied, serving as a first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of acontrol device 16.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of avoice recognizing unit 23.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of adetermining unit 24.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a danger information list stored in thememory 53 in FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart describing the processing of the control device16.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart describing danger information detectingprocessing.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart describing shape deformation processing.

FIG. 11 is a diagram describing a state in which pressure is applied toa doorframe 11-j.

FIG. 12 is a diagram describing a state in which the doorframe 11-j isjammed against the door panel 4 by pressure.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating another configuration example ofthe determining unit 24.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a danger information list.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart describing the processing of the control device16.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a house towhich the present invention is applied, serving as a second example.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of acontrol device 73.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of adetermining unit 94.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating a danger information list stored inthe memory 103 in FIG. 18.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of adetecting unit 95.

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an electric socket installed in ahouse 71.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of aplug 131 of an electronic apparatus.

FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating a connected electronic apparatus list.

FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating an electronic-apparatus power-offorder-of-priority list.

FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating another example of anelectronic-apparatus power-off order-of-priority list.

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating a connected electronic-apparatusorder-of-off list.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart describing the detecting processing of thedetecting unit 95.

FIG. 28 is a flowchart describing the processing of the control device73.

FIG. 29 is a flowchart describing power control processing.

FIG. 30 is a block diagram illustrating another configuration example ofthe determining unit 94.

FIG. 31 is a diagram illustrating a danger information list stored inthe memory 103 in FIG. 30.

FIG. 32 is a flowchart describing the processing of the control device73.

FIG. 33 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware example of a computerwhich realizes the control device 16 (control device 73).

FIG. 34 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration example of ahouse to which the present invention is applied, serving as a thirdembodiment.

FIG. 35 is a cross-sectional view taken along a line A-A′ of the housein FIG. 34.

FIG. 36 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration example of aresidence unit.

FIG. 37 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration example ofthe residence unit in FIG. 36 viewed from the left-hand-side facedirection.

FIG. 38 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of acontrol system for performing control as to the house in FIG. 34,serving as an embodiment.

FIG. 39 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed configuration exampleof the broadcasting information extracting unit in FIG. 38.

FIG. 40 is a flowchart describing control processing performed by thecontrol device in FIG. 38 when modifying the position of a residenceunit.

FIG. 41 is a diagram illustrating room examples assigned to theresidence units of the house shown in FIG. 35.

FIG. 42 is a flowchart describing position-of-bedroom determinationprocessing for determining the position of the bedroom performed in stepS112 in FIG. 40 by a unit-position determining unit.

FIG. 43 is a diagram illustrating an example in which the position ofthe bedroom in FIG. 41 is modified by the position-of-bedroomdetermination processing in FIG. 42 which the unit-position determiningunit performs.

FIG. 44 is a diagram illustrating a relation example between theacquisition information acquired by an information acquiring unit andthe positions of residence units determined by the unit-positiondetermining unit.

FIG. 45 is a diagram illustrating another configuration example of acontrol system for performing control as to the house in FIG. 34.

FIG. 46 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed configuration exampleof the display image selecting unit in FIG. 45.

FIG. 47 is a flowchart describing control processing in which thecontrol device in FIG. 45 controls residence units and windowpanes.

FIG. 48 is a flowchart describing function modification processing formodifying the functions of the windowpanes in step S156 and Step S157 inFIG. 47 with the display image selecting unit in detail.

FIG. 49 is a diagram illustrating examples of functions displayed on thewindowpanes, in the event that the positions of the residence units aredetermined to be the positions where there is a window outside of theresidence units.

FIG. 50 is a diagram illustrating examples of functions displayed on thewindowpanes, in the event that the positions of the residence units aredetermined to be the positions where there is no window outside of theresidence units.

FIG. 51A illustrates examples of the functions of a windowpane to bedisplayed on the windowpane of a wall of a residence unit.

FIG. 51B illustrates examples of the functions of the windowpane to bedisplayed on the windowpane of the wall of the residence unit.

FIG. 52 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a user views thewindowpane where the functions in FIG. 51B are displayed, selectshis/her desired function, and the functions of the windowpane aremodified.

FIG. 53 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of acomputer to which the present invention is applied, serving as oneembodiment.

FIG. 54 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration example of aresidence system to which the present invention is applied, serving as afourth embodiment.

FIG. 55 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of areceiving device 601.

FIG. 56 is a diagram describing data stored in the memory 636 in FIG.55.

FIG. 57 is a flowchart describing program output processing.

FIG. 58 is a diagram illustrating the situation of a user's room in theprogram output processing.

REFERENCE NUMERALS

1 outer wall, 2 gap, 3 outside edge, 4 door panel, 5 doorknob, 6-1hinge, 6-2 hinge, 7 transmitting unit, 11-1 through 11-3 doorframes,12-1 through 12-3 electrodes, 13 sensor, 14 sensor switch, 15 actuator,16 control device, 17 antenna, 21 receiving unit, 22 receivinginformation processing device, 23 voice recognizing unit, 24 determiningunit, 25 storing unit, 26 power supply processing unit, 27 detectingunit, 28 actuator control unit, 30 control unit, 41 decoder unit, 42matching unit, 43 memory, 51 memory, 52 danger information determiningunit, 53 memory, 61 level-of-danger determining unit, 71 house, 72antenna, 73 control device, 74-1 though 74-6 actuators, 75 room, 76room, 77 room, 78 room, 79-1 switchboard, 79-2 switchboard, 80-1power-distribution cable, 80-2 power-distribution cable, 81 iron, 82electric heater, 83 refrigerator, 84 PC, 91 receiving unit, 92 receivinginformation processing unit, 93 voice recognizing unit, 94 determiningunit, 95 detecting unit, 96 antenna, 97 power control unit, 101 memory,102 danger information determining unit, 103 memory, 111 receiving unit,112 ID acquiring unit, 113 information identifying unit, 114priority-list creating unit, 115 information storing unit, 121-1 through121-4 electric sockets, 131 plug, 132 ID storing unit, 133 transmittingunit, 134 antenna, 141 level-of-danger determining unit, 151 CPU, 152ROM, 153 RAM, 154 bus, 155 input/output interface, 156 input unit, 157output unit, 158 storing unit, 159 communication unit, 160 drive, 161magnetic disk, 162 optical disc, 163 magneto-optical disc, 164semiconductor memory, 201 building, 202 roof, 203-1 through 203-6residence units, 211 sensor, 212-1 and 212-2 windows, 251-1 through251-6 window frames, 252-1 through 252-2 doors, 271-1 through 271-6windowpanes, 272-1 through 272-6 sliding portions, 290 control device,291 information acquiring unit, 292 unit-position determining unit, 293control unit, 294 driving unit, 311 broadcasting information extractingunit, 312 illumination sensor, 313 temperature sensor, 314 clock, 315infrared sensor, 316 sound sensor, 317 action detecting unit, 350control device, 351 control unit, 352 display image selecting unit, 353video camera, 371 request acquiring unit, 372 function determining unit,373 image storing unit, 374 transparency modifying unit, 375 functionmodifying unit, 376 image storing unit, 501 bus, 502 CPU, 503 ROM, 504RAM, 505 hard disk, 506 output unit, 507 input unit, 508 communicationunit, 509 drive, 510 input/output interface, 511 removable recordingmedium, 601 receiving device, 611 tuner, 612 demodulation unit, 613error-correction processing unit, 614 demultiplexer, 615 video decoder,616 audio decoder, 617 DRC unit, 618 synthesizing unit, 619 OSD unit,620 and 621 selectors, 622-1 through 622-5 displays, 623-1 through 623-5speakers, 631 controller, 632 key-input unit, 633 display unit, 634remote-control I/F, 635 photo-receiving unit, 636 memory, 637-1 through637-5 sensors, 721-1 through 721-5 cameras, 722-1 through 722-5 movieprojector

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, description will be made regarding examples according tothe present invention.

First Embodiment

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of ahouse to which the present invention is applied, serving as a firstembodiment. In FIG. 3, description of the same components as those inFIG. 1 will be omitted as appropriate.

Doorframe 11-1 through doorframe 11-3 are disposed on the outer wall 1in FIG. 3. The doorframe 11-1 through doorframe 11-3 are made up of, forexample, a shape memory alloy which is a shape-variable member havingfeatures of a shape-fixed state in which the shape cannot be changed,and a shape-variable state in which the shape can be changed by acurrent being flowed therein (an electricity conducting state). Thedoorframe 11-1 is disposed along the right frame which is the edgeportion of the right end of the door panel 4, the doorframe 11-2 isdisposed along the upper frame which is the edge portion of the upperend of the door panel 4, and the doorframe 11-3 is disposed along theleft frame, respectively. That is to say, the doorframe 11-j (whereinj=1, 2, 3) is disposed so as to surround the right frame, upper frame,and left frame of the door panel 4. Further, one plate of the hinge 6-1and hinge 6-2, as with FIG. 1, is fixed to the left frame which is theleft end portion of the door panel 4 with screws, and further, the otherplate of the hinge 6-1 and hinge 6-2 is fixed to the outer wall 1 withscrews, and thus, the door panel 4 is fixed outside so as to turn withthe hinge 6-1 and hinge 6-2 serving as fulcrums.

Between the door panel 4 and the doorframe 11-j, the gap 2 is provided,as in FIG. 1. The reason why the gap 2 is provided is as described withFIG. 1.

An edge facing the frame of the door panel 4 of the doorframe 11-j, andthe edge on the opposite side thereof, i.e., the edge jointed to theouter wall 1, have electrodes 12-j attached thereto.

The electrodes 12-j are connected to an unshown power source via thecontrol device 16. Accordingly, voltage is applied from the power sourceto the electrodes 12-j via the control device 16.

Upon voltage being applied to the electrode 12-j, current is applied tothe doorframe 11-j between the electrodes 12-j, in accordance with thevoltage thereof. The shape-variable member which is the doorframe 11-jenters a shape-variable state from the shape-fixed state upon currentbeing applied thereto, i.e., when making the transition to anelectricity conducting state. Further, the doorframe 11-j enters ashape-variable state, and upon pressure being applied thereto from anactuator 15, the doorframe 11-j changes its shape under the pressure.For example, upon pressure being applied to the direction where thewidth of the gap 2 becomes narrower, i.e., the direction where the doorpanel 4 is compressed, the doorframe 11-j changes its shape to be jammedagainst the door panel 4 by pressure. Subsequently, upon application ofvoltage to the electrodes 12-j being stopped, and the doorframe 11-jbetween the electrodes 12-j entering a state in which current is notapplied thereto, the doorframe 11-j makes transition to the shape-fixedstate from the shape-variable state. In this case, the door panel 4 andthe doorframe 11-j are in a jammed state with no gaps therebetween, soit becomes difficult to open the door panel 4 even in an unlocked state.

On the other hand, in the shape-fixed state which is a jammed statewherein there is no gap 2 between the doorframe 11-j and the door panel4, upon application of voltage to the electrodes 12-j being resumed, andthe doorframe 11-j between the electrodes 12-j entering the state inwhich current is applied thereto, the doorframe 11-j takes transition tothe shape-variable state from the shape-fixed state, and in the eventthat pressure is not applied from the actuator 15, the doorframe 11-j isrestored to the original shape. Further, upon application of voltage tothe electrode 12-j being stopped in a state restored to the originalshape, the doorframe 11-j enters the shape-fixed state in the originalshape, i.e., can return to the state in FIG. 3.

Note that electrodes and doorframe can be disposed also on the frameunder the door panel 4. Further, the doorframe 11-j may be restored tothe original shape by pressure being applied from the actuator 15 in thedirection where the width of the gap 2 is expanded, i.e., the directioncontrary to the direction the door panel 4 is compressed.

A sensor 13 is attached to the outer edge of each four sides of the doorpanel 4, for example. Upon a sensor switch 14 being turned on undercontrol of the control device 16, the sensor 13 starts measurement ofpressure which the doorframe 11-j, to which pressure was applied fromthe actuator 15 in a shape-variable state, applies to the door panel 4,and supplies the pressure measured to the control device 16. On theother hand, upon the sensor switch 14 being turned off, the sensor 13stops measurement of the pressure which the doorframe 11-j applies tothe door panel 4.

The sensor switch 14 is supplied with a switch control signal from thecontrol device 16. The sensor switch 14 turns on or off based on theswitch control signal supplied from the control device 16 to cause thesensor 13 to start or stop measurement of pressure.

The actuator 15 is supplied with an actuating signal from the controldevice 16. The actuator 15 applies pressure to the doorframe 11-j, whichenters a shape-variable state, based on the actuating signal suppliedfrom the control device 16 to deform the shape thereof.

The control device 16 applies voltage to the electrode 12-j based on thebroadcasting signal received at an antenna 17, and also supplies aswitch control signal to the sensor switch 14, and an actuating signalto the actuator 15, respectively. Further, the control device 16receives a pressure value from the sensor 13.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of thecontrol device 16 in FIG. 3.

The control device 16 comprises a receiving unit 21, a receivinginformation processing unit 22, a voice recognizing unit 23, adetermining unit 24, a storing unit 25, a power supply processing unit26, a detecting unit 27, and an actuator control unit 28.

The receiving unit 21 is connected to the antenna 17 by cable. Theantenna 17 receives a broadcasting signal transmitted via airwaves, andsupplies this to the receiving unit 21. The receiving unit 21 subjectsthe broadcasting signal supplied from the antenna 17 to predeterminedprocessing such as demodulation for example, and supplies this to thereceiving information processing unit 22.

The receiving information processing unit 22 is supplied with abroadcasting signal from the receiving unit 21, and also is suppliedwith a trigger a from the determining unit 24. The receiving informationprocessing unit 22 detects (acquires) a voice signal (audio data)serving as information from the broadcasting signal supplied from thereceiving unit 21 in accordance with the trigger a from the determiningunit 24, and supplies this to the voice recognizing unit 23.

The voice recognizing unit 23 performs speech recognition regarding thevoice signal supplied from the receiving information processing unit 22,and supplies a text serving as the speech recognition result to thedetermining unit 24.

The determining unit 24 performs processing for detecting dangerinformation relating to danger such as information relating to a personsuch as a burglar, and information relating to districts where theperson appeared based on the text supplied from the voice recognizingunit 23 as predetermined specific information. Further, the determiningunit 24, upon detecting danger information, supplies a trigger b servingas a control signal to the power supply processing unit 26 and actuatorcontrol unit 28 based on the danger information. Also, the determiningunit 24 controls the receiving information processing unit 22 bysupplying a trigger a serving as a control signal to the receivinginformation processing unit 22.

The storing unit 25 stores an optimal pressure value serving as anappropriate pressure value to be applied to the door panel 4 by thedoorframe 11-j for when jamming the door panel 4 and the doorframe 11-jby pressure.

The power supply processing unit 26 is supplied with a trigger b fromthe determining unit 24, and also is supplied with a measured pressurevalue indicating pressure measured by the sensor 13 from the detectingunit 27. The power supply processing unit 26 applies voltage to theelectrodes 12-j in accordance with the trigger b supplied from thedetermining unit 24. Also, the power supply processing unit 26 comparesthe optimal pressure value stored in the storing unit 25 with themeasured pressure value supplied from the detecting unit 27, and stopsapplication of voltage to the electrodes 12-j depending on thecomparison result.

The detecting unit 27 processes the measured pressure value measured bythe sensor 13, and supplies this to the power supply processing unit 26and actuator control unit 28.

The actuator control unit 28 supplies an actuating signal to theactuator 15 in accordance with the trigger b supplied from thedetermining unit 24, and also supplies a switch control signal to thesensor switch 14. Further, the actuator control processing unit 28compares the optimal pressure value stored in the storing unit 25 withthe measured pressure value supplied from the detecting unit 27, andstops supply of an actuating signal to the actuator 15 depending on thecomparison result.

Now, the storing unit 25, power supply processing unit 26, detectingunit 27, and actuator control unit 28, make up a control unit 30 whichcontrols the status of a door serving as a facility of the house in FIG.3.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of thevoice recognizing unit 23 in FIG. 4.

The voice recognizing unit 23 comprises a decoder unit 41, a matchingunit 42, and memory 43.

In the event that the voice signal supplied from the receivinginformation processing unit 22 is encoded, the decoder unit 41 decodesthe encoded voice signal, and supplies the decoded voice signal to thematching unit 42.

The matching unit 42 subjects the voice signal supplied from the decoderunit 41 to speech recognition with the vocabulary registered in a speechrecognition dictionary stored in the memory 43 as vocabulary to besubjected to speech recognition, and supplies the result of the speechrecognition to the determining unit 24 as a text.

The memory 43 stores a speech recognition dictionary. The speechrecognition dictionary has registered therein a very wide vocabulary.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of thedetermining unit 24 in FIG. 4.

The determining unit 24 comprises memory 51, a danger informationdetermining unit 52, and memory 53.

The memory 51 temporally stores the text supplied from the voicerecognizing unit 23.

The danger information determining unit 52 reads out danger informationserving as words registered in a danger information list (the detailsthereof will be described later in FIG. 7) stored in the memory 53.Further, the danger information determining unit 52 reads out a textfrom the memory 51, and extracts words which represent a noun, state,action, and the like from the text. Subsequently, the danger informationdetermining unit 52 determines whether or not the word extracted fromthe text corresponds to (is in agreement with) the danger information.In the event that determination is made that the word extracted from thetext corresponds to the danger information, i.e., in the event that thedanger information is detected from the text, the danger informationdetermining unit 52 supplies a trigger b to the power supply processingunit 26 and actuator control unit 28. On the other hand, in the eventthat determination is made that the word extracted from the text doesnot correspond to the danger information, the danger informationdetermining unit 52 supplies a trigger a to the receiving informationprocessing unit 22.

The memory 53 stores danger information lists.

Description will be made regarding the danger information lists storedin the memory 53 in FIG. 6 with reference to FIG. 7.

The memory 53 in FIG. 6 stores four danger information lists shown inthe upper left, lower left, upper right, and lower right of FIG. 7, forexample.

The upper left diagram illustrates the danger information list to whichnames representing places such as A town, B town, and C town areregistered (hereinafter, referred to as relevant district list asappropriate). For example, in the event that a dangerous person such asan intruder who illegally invades dwelling-places appears, whether ornot danger from the intruder will affects a user's house is greatlyinfluenced by the spatial relationship between the place where theintruder has invaded and the place where the user's house exists.Accordingly, the relevant district list in which places are registeredare a vital list (MUST list) at the time of determining whether or notdanger is approaching the districts near the user's house. Examples ofdanger information registered in the relevant district list includesdistricts near the user's house in distance, such as the town where theuser's house is, i.e., the town where the user lives, neighboring townswhere the user lives, and so forth, with the names of the districtswhere danger may reach the user's house in the event that a dangerousperson has appeared in such a district being used in the list.

The lower left diagram illustrates the danger information list to whichnames representing persons such as an intruder, burglar, and suspect areregistered as danger information (hereinafter, referred to as personlist as appropriate). Note that as for person information serving asdanger information which is registered to the person list, the names ofdangerous persons whereby danger may reach the user's house are used,such as an “intruder” who illegally invades dwelling-places, a “burglar”who steals others' personal belongings, and a “suspect” who hascommitted a crime against the law.

The upper right diagram illustrates the danger information list to whichnouns or the like representing statuses such as under investigation, inflight, and in hiding are registered as danger information (hereinafter,referred to as status list as appropriate). Note that as for the dangerinformation registered in the status list, the nouns representingstatuses in which danger may reach the user's house are employed, suchas a dangerous person who is registered in the person list is “underinvestigation” representing a status in which the police isinvestigating the person, “in flight” representing a status in which theperson is fleeing, and “in hiding” representing a status in which theperson is hiding out to conceal himself/herself.

The lower right diagram illustrates the danger information list intowhich names representing personal belongings such as a weapon, gun, andknife are registered as danger information (hereinafter, referred to aspersonal belongings list as appropriate). Note that as for the dangerinformation registered in the personal belongings list, the nouns of thepersonal belongings of a dangerous person who is registered in theperson list whereby danger may reach the user are employed, such as a“weapon” for inflicting injury on a third party, a “gun” for dischargingbullets, and a “knife” such as a sharp edged tool like a kitchen knife.

Note that creation of the danger information lists may be requested ofthe user, for example. Also, of the danger information lists, therelevant district list can be created by recognizing the position of theuser's house using GPS (Global Positioning System), and registering thedistrict names of the position and surrounding districts. Further, theother danger information lists can be created and registered beforehand.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart describing the processing of the control device 16in FIG. 4. The processing in FIG. 8 starts upon the power source of thecontrol device 16 being turned on, whereby the control device 16 becomesoperative.

In step S1, the receiving unit 21 starts reception of the broadcastingsignal supplied from the antenna 17, subjects the received broadcastingsignal to predetermined processing, and supplies this to the receivinginformation processing unit 22. Note that the receiving unit 21 may bearranged to receive only the broadcasting signal of a certain channel,or to also receive the broadcasting signals of multiple channels in atime-sharing manner. Also, the receiving unit 21 can acquire, forexample, an EPG (Electronic Program Guide), and receive the broadcastingsignal of news programs based on the EPG. Further, the receiving unit 21may be arranged to receive the broadcasting signals of multiple channelsusing multiple tuners.

Subsequently, in step S2, the receiving information processing unit 22acquires a voice signal by detecting a voice signal from thebroadcasting signal supplied from the receiving unit 21, supplies thisto the voice recognizing unit 23, and the flow proceeds to step S3.

In step S3, the voice recognizing unit 23 performs speech recognitionregarding the voice signal supplied from the receiving informationprocessing unit 22, supplies the speech recognition result in a textformat to the determining unit 24, and the flow proceeds to step S4.

In step S4, the determining unit 24 performs danger informationdetecting processing for detecting danger information from the textsupplied from the voice recognizing unit 23, the flow proceeds to stepS5, where determination is made based on the processing result regardingwhether or not there is a danger potential wherein there is apossibility that danger will approach the user (user's house).

In step S5, in the event that determination is made that there is nodanger potential, the determining unit 24 supplies a trigger a to thereceiving information processing unit 22, and the flow returns to stepS2. In step S2, the receiving information processing unit 22 detects avoice signal from the broadcasting signal next supplied from thereceiving unit 21 in accordance with the trigger a from the determiningunit 24, and hereinafter, the same processing is repeated.

On the other hand, in step S5, in the event that there is a dangerpotential, the determining unit 24 supplies a trigger b to the powersupply processing unit 26 and actuator control unit 28, and the flowproceeds to step S6.

In step S6, the power supply processing unit 26 and actuator controlunit 28 and the like perform shape deformation processing for deformingthe shapes of the doorframe 11-j in FIG. 3 in accordance with thetrigger b from the determining unit 24 and end the processing. That isto say, in the event that there is a danger potential, the controldevice 16 in FIG. 4 performs the shape deformation processing, and thus,as described later, the door panel 4 and the doorframe 11-j are jammedby pressure, thereby protecting the user (user's house) from danger.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart describing the danger information detectingprocessing in step S4 in FIG. 8, i.e., the processing of the determiningunit 24 in FIG. 6.

The text serving as the speech recognition result output by the voicerecognizing unit 23 is supplied to the memory 51, and the memory 51temporally stores the text. That is to say, the memory 51 temporallystores the text of the speech recognition result of the voice of theprogram broadcasted within a certain time.

Subsequently, in step S11, the danger information determining unit 52extracts words from the text stored in the memory 51, and the flowproceeds to step S12.

In step S12, the danger information determining unit 52 sequentiallyreads out the danger information list in FIG. 7 stored in the memory 53,and the flow proceeds to step S13

In step S13, the danger information determining unit 52 determineswhether or not any one of the words extracted from the text in step S11corresponds to the danger information (relevant district information)listed in the relevant district list, of the danger information listsread out in step S12.

In step S13, in the event that determination is made that any one of thewords extracted from the text does not correspond to (is not inagreement with) any danger information of the relevant district list,the flow proceeds to step S16.

On the other hand, in step S13, in the event that determination is madethat any one of the words extracted from the text corresponds to (is inagreement with) any danger information of the relevant district list,the flow proceeds to step S14, where the danger information determiningunit 52 determines whether or not any one of the words extracted fromthe text corresponds to the danger information listed in any dangerinformation list other than the relevant district list, i.e., the personlist, status list, and personal belongings list in FIG. 7.

In step S14, in the event that determination is made that any one of thewords extracted from the text corresponds to any danger informationlisted in the other danger information lists, i.e., in the event thatthe text includes the word listed in the relevant district list and theword listed in the other danger information list, the flow proceeds tostep S15, where the danger information determining unit 52 recognizesthat there is a danger potential, and the flow returns. That is to say,in the event that the contents of the broadcasting signal received instep S1 in FIG. 8 are for broadcasting that a person listed in theperson list in FIG. 7 as a dangerous person such as an intruder hasappeared in the district listed in the district information list in FIG.7 for example, this means that the text includes both the word of therelevant district list and the word of the other danger informationlist, and thus, the danger information determining unit 52 recognizesthat there is a danger potential.

On the other hand, in step S14, in the event that determination is madethat none of the words extracted from the text correspond to any dangerinformation listed in the other danger information lists, the flowproceeds to step S16, where the danger information determining unit 52recognizes that there is no danger potential, and the flow returns. Forexample, in the event that the contents of the broadcasting signalreceived in step S1 in FIG. 8 is not for broadcasting that a dangerousperson has appeared, or even if the contents of the broadcasting signalis for broadcasting that a dangerous person has appeared, but in theevent that the dangerous person has appeared in a far distant district,this means that the text never includes both the word of the relevantdistrict list and the word of the other danger information list, andthus, the danger information determining unit 52 recognizes that thereis no danger potential.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart describing the shape deformation processing instep S6 in FIG. 8. As described in FIG. 8, in the event that there is adanger potential, i.e., in the event that danger approaches the user(user's house), this shape deformation processing is performed forpreventing the danger. In other words, with a building such as a house,this processing is performed in order to automatically protect theresident (user) of the house or the like from danger.

In step S21, the power supply processing unit 26 reads out an optimalpressure value from the storing unit 25, and the flow proceeds to stepS22.

In step S22, the power supply processing unit 26 flows current in thedoorframe 11-j serving as a shape-variable member by applying current tothe electrodes 12-j, transforms the doorframe 11-j into a shape-variablestate from a shape-fixed state as preparation for changing the shapethereof, and the flow proceeds to step S23.

In step S23, the actuator control unit 28 reads out an optimal pressurevalue from the storing unit 25, and further supplies a switch controlsignal to the sensor switch 14, and the flow proceeds to step S24. Thus,the sensor switch 14 turns on, and the sensor 13 starts measurement ofpressure applied from the doorframe 11-j.

In step S24, the actuator control unit 28 further starts supply of anactuating signal to the actuator 15, and the flow proceeds to step S25.

In step S25, the actuator 15 starts application of pressure to thedoorframe 11-j in accordance with the actuating signal from the actuatorcontrol unit 28, and the flow proceeds to step S26.

In step S26, the detecting unit 27 supplies the measured pressure valuesupplied from the sensor 13 to the power supply processing unit 26 andactuator control unit 28, and the flow proceeds to step S27.

Now, description will be made regarding a state in which pressure isapplied to the doorframe 11-j in FIG. 3 with reference to FIG. 11.

In FIG. 11, current is applied to the doorframe 11-j with the processingin step S22 in FIG. 10, so the doorframe 11-j is in a shape-variablestate. Further, pressure is applied to the doorframe 11-j by theactuator 15. Thus, the doorframe 11-j to which pressure is applied in ashape-variable state changes its shape in the direction where the widthof the gap 2 is reduced, i.e., in the direction where the door panel 4is pressed.

In the event that the doorframe 11-j is in contact with the door panel4, or in the event that the doorframe 11-j is not in contact with thedoor panel 4, but the doorframe 11-j has not changed its shape up to astate in which the doorframe 11-j is sufficiently jammed to the doorpanel 4 by pressure, the measured pressure value measured by the sensor13 has not attained the optimal pressure value stored in the storingunit 25. In this case, the power supply processing unit 26 continuouslyapplies current to the electrodes 12-j, and consequently, the doorframe11-j. Further, the actuator control unit 28 continuously supplies anactuating signal to the actuator 15, and the actuator 15 continuouslyapplies pressure to the doorframe 11-j.

Returning to FIG. 10, in step S27, the power supply processing unit 26and actuator control unit 28 determine whether or not the measuredpressure value supplied from the detecting unit 27 has attained theoptimal pressure value. In step S27, in the event that determination ismade that the measured pressure value has not attained the optimalpressure value, the flow returns to step S26, and hereinafter, the sameprocessing is repeated. That is to say, the power supply processing unit26 continuously applies current to the doorframe 11-j. Further, theactuator control unit 28 continuously supplies an actuating signal tothe actuator 15, and subsequently, the actuator 15 continuously appliespressure to the doorframe 11-j.

On the other hand, in the event that determination is made in step S27that the measured pressure value has attained the optimal pressurevalue, the flow proceeds to step S28, the power supply processing unit26 stops supply of current to the electrode 12-j, i.e., stops supply ofcurrent to the doorframe 11-j to change the doorframe 11-j into ashape-fixed state from a shape-variable state, and the flow proceeds tostep S29.

In step S29, the actuator control unit 28 supplies a switch controlsignal to the sensor switch 14 to turn off the sensor switch 14, and theflow proceeds to step S30.

In step S30, the actuator control unit 28 further stops supply of anactuating signal supplied to the actuator 15, and thus, the actuator 15stops application of pressure to the doorframe 11-j, and the flowreturns.

Thus, the door panel 4 and the doorframe 11-j are in a jammed state.

Description will be made regarding a state in which the doorframe 11-jis jammed to the door panel 4 by pressure, with reference to FIG. 12.

In FIG. 12, the measured pressure value measured by the sensor 13 hasattained the optimal pressure value stored in the memory 25. In thiscase, supply of current to the doorframe 11-j is stopped in step S28 inFIG. 10, and the doorframe 11-j makes transition to a shape-fixed statefrom a shape-variable state. Further, appliance of pressure to thedoorframe 11-j is stopped in step S30 in FIG. 10. Thus, the doorframe11-j changes its shape to a state in which the doorframe 11-j issufficiently jammed to the door panel 4 by pressure, and reaches ashape-fixed state wherein there is no more gap 2.

Accordingly, in FIG. 12, even if the unshown lock mechanism of thedoorknob 5 is in an unlocked state, or destroyed by someone, thedoorframe 11-j and door panel 4 are in a state in which the doorframe11-j is sufficiently jammed to the door panel 4 by pressure, so the doorpanel 4 cannot be opened and closed, thereby preventing a prowler or thelike from invading the house.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of thedetermining unit 24 in FIG. 4.

The determining unit 24 in FIG. 13 comprises memory 51, a dangerinformation determining unit 52, memory 53, and a level-of-dangerdetermining unit 61. In FIG. 13, the memory 51, danger informationdetermining unit 52, and memory 53 have the same configuration as thecase in FIG. 6, so description thereof will be omitted as appropriate.However, the memory 53 stores a danger information list which listsdanger information accompanying a level of danger serving as importanceof danger information. Also, the danger information determining unit 52,as with the case described in FIG. 6, is configured so as to detect thedanger information registered in the danger information list stored inthe memory 53 from the text, and determine whether or not there is adanger potential, and further supply the determination result to thelevel-of-danger determining unit 61, and also supply the dangerinformation detected from the text to the level-of-danger determiningunit 61.

Upon receiving information that there is a danger potential from thedanger information determining unit 52, the level-of-danger determiningunit 61 determines the level of danger with reference to the dangerinformation list stored in the memory 53. That is to say, thelevel-of-danger determining unit 61 recognizes the level-of-danger ofthe danger information supplied from the danger information determiningunit 52 along with the information that there is a danger potentialbased on the danger information list stored in the memory 53, anddetermines the level of the danger potential depending on thelevel-of-danger thereof. Subsequently, in the event that determinationis made that the danger potential is high, the level-of-dangerdetermining unit 61 supplies a trigger b to the power supply processingunit 26 and actuator control unit 28, as with the danger informationdetermining unit 52 in FIG. 6. On the other hand, in the event thatdetermination is made that the danger potential is low, thelevel-of-danger determining unit 61 supplies a trigger a to thereceiving information processing unit 22, as with the danger informationdetermining unit 52 in FIG. 6.

FIG. 14 illustrates a danger information list stored in the memory 53 inFIG. 13. Note that in FIG. 14, the danger information listed in thedanger information list is the same as that shown in FIG. 7.

However, with the danger information list in FIG. 14, a word serving asdanger information registered therein is associated with alevel-of-danger representing the level of danger in the case of the wordbeing included in the text. Note that here, let us say that the smallerthe value representing a level-of-danger, the higher the level ofdanger.

Now, let us say that the user's house is in A town, and the neighboringtowns are B town and C town. Further, let us say that B town is near theuser's house, but C town is far from the user's house.

In this case, the probability that danger will reach the user (user'shouse) is higher when an incident occurs in B town than when an incidentoccurs in C town. Also, the probability that danger will reach the user(user's house) is higher when an incident occurs in A town than when anincident occurs in B town.

Accordingly, in FIG. 14, the level-of-danger of danger information “Atown” is “1” representing that the level of danger is the highest in therelevant district list which is a danger information list. Also, thelevel-of-danger of danger information “B town” is “2” representing thatthe level of danger is next highest. Subsequently, the level-of-dangerof danger information “C town” is “3” representing that the level ofdanger is one rank lower than the danger information “B town”.

The danger information registered in the danger information lists(person list, status list, and personal belongings list) other than therelevant district list is also associated with a level-of-danger in thesame way.

Note that of the danger information lists, a level-of-danger in therelevant district list, for example, can be determined depending on thedistance between the position of the district registered in the relevantdistrict list and the position of the user's house, and registered, byrecognizing the position of the user's house using GPS. Also, alevel-of-danger of the other danger information lists can be registeredbeforehand, for example.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart describing the processing of the control device16 in the case in which the determining unit 24 in FIG. 4 is configuredsuch as shown in FIG. 13.

Note that as with the case in FIG. 8, the processing in FIG. 15 startsupon the power source of the control device 16 being turned on, and thecontrol device 16 becoming operative. Also, the processing in step S41through the processing in step S45 in FIG. 15 are the same as theprocessing in step S1 through the processing in step S5 in FIG. 8, sodescription thereof will be omitted.

However, in step S45, upon determining that there is a danger potential,the danger information determining unit 52 supplies the dangerinformation included in the text obtained with the danger informationdetecting processing in step S44 corresponding to step S4 in FIG. 8 tothe level-of-danger determining unit 61 along with the information thatthere is a danger potential, and the flow proceeds to step S46.

In step S46, the level-of-danger determining unit 61 recognizes thelevel-of-danger of the danger information from the danger informationdetermining unit 52 with reference to the danger information list storedin the memory 53, and determines the level of the danger potential ofthe user (user's house) based on the level-of-danger.

Here, in step S46, the level of the danger potential can be determineddepending on the magnitude of the average value of the level-of-dangerof the danger information from the danger information determining unit52, for example. Also, in step S46, of the level-of-danger of the dangerinformation from the danger information determining unit 52, the levelof the danger potential can be determined depending on the magnitude ofthe lowest value, for example.

In step S46, in the event that determination is made that a dangerpotential is not high, the flow returns to step S42, and hereinafter,the same processing is repeated. On the other hand, in step S46, in theevent that determination is made that a danger potential is high, theflow proceeds to step S47, where the same shape deformation processingas that in the case in step S6 in FIG. 8 is performed, and theprocessing ends. Note that the shape deformation processing in step S47is the same processing as described in FIG. 10, so the descriptionthereof will be omitted.

Thus, with the house in FIG. 3, when there is a danger potential, orwhen the danger potential is high, the shape of the doorframe 11-jdisposed around the gap 2 is deformed so as to sufficiently jam thedoorframe 11-j with the door panel 4 by pressure, so that the door forgoing in and out from the house is prevented from being opened even ifthe key thereof is destroyed, and thus, safety of the user (user'shouse) can be secured.

Note that in the above case, the door of the house is placed in a jammedstate so as not to open, but other arrangements may be employed, forexample, an arrangement may be made wherein windows and other certainfacilities serving as doorways are also placed in a jammed state so asnot to open.

Second Embodiment

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a house towhich the present invention is applied, serving as a second embodiment.

A house 71 comprises an antenna 72, a control device 73, actuator 74-1through actuator 74-6, room 75 through room 78, switchboard 79-1 andswitchboard 79-2, power-distribution cable 80-1 and power-distributioncable 80-2, and the like. Further, in FIG. 16, a clothes iron 81 isdisposed in the room 75, an electric heater 82 in the room 76, arefrigerator 83 in the room 77, and a PC (Personal Computer) 84 in theroom 78, respectively.

The antenna 72 is connected to the control device 73. The antenna 72,which is disposed outdoors, receives a broadcasting signal transmittedvia airwaves, and supplies this to the receiving unit 73.

The control device 73 detects danger information serving aspredetermined specific information from the broadcasting signal suppliedfrom the antenna 72, controls the actuator 74-1 through actuator 74-6based on the danger information, and thus, controls the state of powersupply to an electric socket installed in the house 71. Note that thoughnot shown in the drawing, the control device 16 is also connected to theactuator 74-2 through actuator 74-6 other than the actuator 74-1.

The actuator 74-1 through actuator 74-6 control supply of power to besupplied to unshown electric sockets installed in each of the room 75through room 78 via the power-distribution cable 80-1 orpower-distribution cable 80-2 from the switchboard 79-1 or switchboard79-2 under control of the control device 73. That is to say, theactuator 74-1 through actuator 74-6 control power supply to the electricsockets by driving an unshown switch disposed in the power-distributioncable 80-1 or power-distribution cable 80-2, for example.

The room 75 is a room on the left side in the drawing of the secondfloor of the house 71. The room 76 is a room on the right side in thedrawing of the second floor of the house 71. The room 77 is a room onthe left side in the drawing of the first floor of the house 71. Theroom 78 is a room on the right side in the drawing of the first floor ofthe house 71. In FIG. 16, the iron 81 is disposed in the room 75, theelectric heater 82 in the room 76, the refrigerator 83 in the room 77,and the PC 84 in the room 78, respectively. Note that the otherelectronic apparatuses can be disposed in the room 75 through room 78.

The switchboard 79-1 and switchboard 79-2 supply power to the electricsockets of the room 75 through room 78 via the power-distribution cable80-1 and power-distribution cable 80-2 respectively.

The power-distribution cable 80-1 and power-distribution cable 80-2connect the switchboard 79-1 and switchboard 79-2 to the electricsockets of the room 75 through room 78.

The iron 81, electric heater 82, refrigerator 83, and PC 84 receivepower supply by inserting the plugs thereof in the electric sockets inthe room 75 through room 78, and operate. Note that the plugs of theiron 81, electric heater 82, refrigerator 83, and PC 84 have a functionfor transmitting identification information for identifying theelectronic apparatuses thereof using a wireless tag.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of thecontrol device 73 in FIG. 16.

The control device 73 comprises a receiving unit 91, a receivinginformation processing unit 92, a voice recognizing unit 93, adetermining unit 94, a detecting unit 95, an antenna 96, and an electriccontrol unit 97. Note that the receiving unit 91, receiving informationprocessing unit 92, voice recognizing unit 93, and determining unit 94correspond to the receiving unit 21, receiving information processingunit 22, voice recognizing unit 23, determining unit 24 in FIG. 4respectively, and perform basically the same processing of the receivingunit 21, receiving information processing unit 22, voice recognizingunit 23, determining unit 24 in FIG. 4.

The detecting unit 95, based on the wireless tag received at the antenna96, transmitted from the iron 81, electric heater 82, refrigerator 83,PC 84, and the other unshown electronic apparatuses, identifies the typeof an electronic apparatus connected to an electric socket of the room75 through room 78 and the electric socket connected with the electronicapparatus. Further, the detecting unit 95 generates a power-offorder-of-priority list which lists the order of turning off power supplyto the electronic apparatuses connected to the electric sockets of theroom 75 through room 78, and supplies this to the power control unit 97.

The antenna 96, for example, is a non-directional antenna, whichreceives a wireless tag transmitted from the electronic apparatusconnected to the electric socket of the room 75 through room 78, such asthe iron 81, for example, and supplies this to the detecting unit 95.

Upon the determining unit 94 recognizing that there is a dangerpotential to output a trigger b, the power control unit 97 acquires apower-off order-of-priority list from the detecting unit 95, andcontrols the actuator 74-k based on the power-off order-of-prioritylist. Thus, the power control unit 97 shuts off power supply to theelectric sockets of the room 75 through room 78, and consequently, theelectronic apparatuses connected to the electric sockets.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of thedetermining unit 94 in FIG. 17.

The determining unit 94 in FIG. 18 comprises memory 101, a dangerinformation determining unit 102, and memory 103. Note that the memory101, danger information determining unit 102, and memory 103 in FIG. 18correspond to the memory 51, danger information determining unit 52, andmemory 53 in FIG. 6 respectively, and perform the same processing asthose.

Note however, that the memory 103 stores a danger information list whichis different from the danger information list stored in the memory 53 inFIG. 6.

FIG. 19 illustrates an example of the danger information list stored inthe memory 103 in FIG. 18.

The memory 103 stores two danger information lists shown in the left andright of FIG. 19, for example.

The left diagram illustrates the danger information list into whichnames representing places such as Hokkaido region, Tohoku region, andKanto region are registered as danger information (hereinafter, referredto as relevant district list as appropriate). For example, in the eventthat a phenomenon which brings disasters such as flooding and waterimmersion, whether or not danger due to the phenomenon which bringsdisaster such as flooding and water immersion approaches the user'shouse is greatly influenced by the spatial relationship between theplace where the phenomenon which brings disaster such as flooding andwater immersion occurs and the place where the user's house is present,for example. Accordingly, the relevant region list into which places areregistered are a vital list (MUST list) at the time of determiningwhether or not danger is approaching the districts near the user'shouse. Examples of relevant district information serving as dangerinformation which is registered in the relevant district list includethe names of the districts where danger may reach the user's house inthe event that a phenomenon which brings disaster such as flooding andwater immersion occurs at such a district, such as districts near theuser's house in distance such as the district where the user's house isbuilt, i.e., the district where the user lives, districts adjacent tothe district where the user lives, and so forth.

The right diagram illustrates a danger information list into whichkeywords serving as names representing dangerous phenomena such asfloods, heavy rain, and typhoons are registered as danger information(hereinafter, referred to as keyword list as appropriate). Note that asfor keywords serving as names representing dangerous phenomena which aredanger information, and registered in the keyword list, names ofdangerous phenomena whereby danger may approach the user's house areemployed, such as “floods” causing damage such as water immersion,“heavy rains” causing roof leaks, flooding, and further land subsidence,and the like, and “typhoons” accompanied by torrential rains.

Note that as for a creating method and the like of the dangerinformation list in FIG. 19, the same method in the case of the dangerinformation list in FIG. 7 can be employed.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of thedetecting unit 95 in FIG. 17.

The detecting unit 95 comprises a receiving unit 111, an ID(Identification) acquiring unit 112, an information identifying unit113, a priority list creating unit 114, and an information storing unit115.

The receiving unit 111 receives a wireless tag, which is supplied fromthe antenna 96, transmitted from the plug of an electronic apparatusconnected to an electric socket of the room 75 through room 78 such asthe iron 81 (the details will be described later in FIG. 22), andsupplies this to the ID acquiring unit 112. Note that the plug of anelectronic apparatus receives power supply from the electric socket andtransmits a wireless tag only in the event of being connected to(inserted in) an electric socket. Also, a wireless tag transmitted froman electronic apparatus includes the ID peculiar to the electronicapparatus, and electric socket information which is information foridentifying the electric socket to which the electronic apparatus isconnected.

The ID acquiring unit 112 recognizes and acquires the ID of anelectronic apparatus, and the electric socket information of theelectric socket to which the electronic apparatus is connected from thewireless tag supplied from the receiving unit 111, and supplies the IDand electric socket information to the information identifying unit 113.

The information identifying unit 113 creates and acquires a connectedelectronic apparatus list which associates (the type of) the electronicapparatus identified by the ID with the electric socket information ofthe electric socket to which the electronic apparatus is connected(correlation between an electronic apparatus and the electric socket towhich the electronic apparatus is connected) based on a set of the IDand electric socket information of an electronic apparatus supplied fromthe ID acquiring unit 112, and supplies this to the priority-listcreating unit 114.

The priority-list creating unit 114 reads out an electronic-apparatuspower-off order-of-priority list which stores the order of priority ofelectronic apparatuses of which power supply is shut off from theinformation storing unit 115. Further, the priority-list creating unit114, based on the order of priority listed in the electronic-apparatuspower-off order-of-priority list read out from the information storingunit 115, creates a connected electronic-apparatus order-of-off list inwhich the electronic apparatuses listed in the connected electronicapparatus list supplied from the information identifying unit 113 aresorted in the order which turns off the power supply thereof, andsupplies this to the power control unit 97.

The information storing unit 115 stores the electronic-apparatuspower-off order-of-priority list.

FIG. 21 illustrates an electric socket 121-1 through electric socket121-4 installed in the room 75 through room 78 of the house 71.

In FIG. 21, for example, the actuator 74-1 is configured so as tocontrol power supply to the electric socket 121-1.

Also, the control device 73 recognizes that it is the actuator 74-1 tocontrol power supply to the electric socket 121-1 installed in the room75. In the same way, even with regard to the other electric socket 121-2through electric socket 121-4, the control device 73 recognizes theactuators to control power supply thereof. Subsequently, the controldevice 73, for example, in the event that power supply to the electricsocket 121-1 needs to be shut off, controls the actuator 74-1 to shutoff power supply to the electric socket 121-1.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram illustrating an configuration example of theplug of an electronic apparatus such as the iron 81, electric heater 82,refrigerator 83, and PC 84.

A plug 131 comprises an ID storing unit 132, a transmitting unit 133,and an antenna 134.

The ID storing unit 132 stores the ID, which can identify an electronicapparatus, unique to the electronic apparatus. Note that a part of theIDs stored in the ID storing unit 132 are, for example, unique for everytype of the electronic apparatus. Accordingly, with this ID, in additionto identifying an electronic apparatus itself, the type of theelectronic apparatus can be also distinguished (identified).

In the event that the plug 131 is connected to the electric socket 121-m(here, m=1, 2, 3, 4), the transmitting unit 133 starts its operation inresponse to power supply from the electric socket 121-m, and reads outan ID from the ID storing unit 132. Also, the transmitting unit 133acquires from the electric socket 121-m connected with the plug 131 theelectric socket information for identifying the electric socket 121-m.That is to say, the electric socket 121-m stores the electric socketinformation for identifying itself. The electric socket 121-m, upon theplug 131 being connected thereto, outputs the electric socketinformation of itself to the plug 131, and the transmitting unit 133acquires the electric socket information thus supplied from the electricsocket 121-m. Further, the transmitting unit 133 transmits the set ofthe ID from the ID storing unit 132 and the electric socket informationacquired from the electric socket 121-m from the antenna 134 viaairwaves as a wireless tag.

Here, as for electric socket information, arbitrary information may beemployed, such as the ID which can identify the electric socket 121-m.For example, in the event that an IP (Internet Protocol) address isassigned to the electric socket 121-m, the IP address may be employed aselectric socket information.

FIG. 23 illustrates an example of the connected electronic apparatuslist created by the information identifying unit 113 in FIG. 20.

The connected electronic apparatus list in FIG. 23 illustrates that theelectric socket 121-1 is connected with the iron 81 and an unshownelectric hot-water pot serving as electronic apparatuses. Similarly, itis illustrated that the electric socket 121-2 is connected with theelectric heater 82, the electric socket 121-3 is connected with therefrigerator 83 and an unshown electronic oven, and the electric socket121-4 is connected with the PC 84, respectively. That is to say, thedetecting unit 95 in FIG. 17, in the event that the plug 131 of theelectronic apparatus in FIG. 22 is connected to the electric socket121-m, receives the ID peculiar to the electronic apparatus transmittedfrom the plug 131 as a wireless tag, and the electric socket informationof the electric socket 121-m connected with the electronic apparatus,and associates the ID with the electric socket information, therebycreating the connected electronic apparatus list in FIG. 23.

FIG. 24 illustrates an example of the electronic-apparatus power-offorder-of-priority list stored by the information storing unit 115 inFIG. 20.

The electronic-apparatus power-off order-of-priority list in FIG. 24associates an electronic apparatus with the order of priority ofshutting off power supply to the electronic apparatus when there is adanger potential. In FIG. 24, the order of priority of an iron is set to1, the order of priority of an electric heater is set to 2, the order ofpriority of an electric cooker is set to 3, the order of priority of anelectric hot-water pot is set to 4, and the order of priority of arefrigerator is set to 5, respectively.

In FIG. 24, the sets of an electronic apparatus and an order of priorityare sorted in the order of priority.

Note that with the electronic apparatuses which generate heat, such asan iron, and an electric heater, in the event that danger occurs, suchas disaster occurring in the district where the house 71 is present, thepower source thereof are preferably quickly turned off with highpriority, to avoid a secondary disaster, fire (or to prevent theelectronic apparatuses from failure). To this end, with theelectronic-apparatus power-off order-of-priority list in FIG. 24, theorder of priority of the electronic apparatuses which generate heat,such as the iron and electric heater, is set as high ranking.

On the other hand, it is desirable that a PC which is necessary as meansfor acquiring information, such as searching the current situation ofdisaster using the Internet, can be used even when disaster occurs.Also, it is desirable that lights, which light the room 75 through room78 of the house 71, can be used until evacuation has been completed, inthe event that disaster occurs and it is necessary to take evacuate thehouse 71. To this end, with the electronic-apparatus power-offorder-of-priority list, the order of priority of the electronicapparatuses such as a PC and lighting is set as low ranking. Note thatwith the electronic-apparatus power-off order-of-priority list in FIG.24, a period since it is recognized that there is a danger potentialuntil power supply is turned off can be associated with each of theelectronic apparatuses and registered such that the electronicapparatuses which generate heat, such as an iron, electric heater arequickly turned off, also such that a PC, lights, and the like, can beused for a predetermined period as necessary.

FIG. 25 illustrates another example of the electronic-apparatuspower-off order-of-priority list.

The electronic-apparatus power-off order-of-priority list in FIG. 25 isthe same as the case in FIG. 24 except that the electronic apparatusesare sorted in the order of ascending priorities, so the descriptionthereof will be omitted.

FIG. 26 illustrates the connected electronic-apparatus order-of-off listcreated by the priority-list creating unit 114.

The priority-list creating unit 114 creates the connectedelectronic-apparatus order-of-off list in FIG. 26 by sorting (the ID of)the electronic apparatuses registered in the connected electronicapparatus list in FIG. 23 supplied from the information identifying unit113 along with the electric socket information associated with theelectronic apparatuses in the order of priority registered in theelectronic-apparatus power-off order-of-priority list in FIG. 24.

Note that with the connected electronic-apparatus order-of-off list inFIG. 26, in addition to the sets of (the ID of) an electronic apparatusand electric socket information, a power-off order serving as an orderof priority for shutting off power supply to an electronic apparatus isalso illustrated as a matter of convenience. In FIG. 26, the power-offorder of the iron is set to 1, the power-off order of the electricheater is set to 2, the power-off order of the electric hot-water pot isset to 3, the power-off order of the refrigerator is set to 4, thepower-off order of the lights is set to N−1, and the power-off order ofthe PC is set to N, respectively.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart describing the processing (detecting processing)of the detecting unit 95 in FIG. 20.

In step S51, the receiving unit 111 starts receiving of a wireless tagtransmitted from the plug 131 of the electronic apparatus connected tothe electric socket 121-m, supplied from the antenna 96. Subsequently,the receiving unit 111 subjects the received wireless tag topredetermined processing, supplies this to the ID acquiring unit 112,and the flow proceeds to step S52 from step S51.

In step S52, the ID acquiring unit 112 acquires the ID of the electronicapparatus from the wireless tag supplied from the receiving unit 111,supplies this along with the wireless tag to the information identifyingunit 113, and the flow proceeds to step S53.

In step S53, the information identifying unit 113 identifies from the IDof the electronic apparatus supplied from the ID acquiring unit 112 theelectronic apparatus, and the flow proceeds to step S54.

In step S54, the information identifying unit 113 further acquires fromthe wireless tag received at the receiving unit 111 in step S51 theelectric socket information of the electric socket to which theelectronic apparatus is connected, and the flow proceeds to step S55.

In step S55, the information identifying unit 113 creates the connectedelectronic apparatus list described in FIG. 23 by associating theelectronic apparatus identified in step S53 with the electric socketinformation of the electric socket to which the identified electronicapparatus is connected, supplies this to the priority-list creating unit114, and the flow proceeds to step S56.

In step S56, the priority-list creating unit 114 reads and acquires thepower-off order-of-priority list from the information storing unit 115,and the flow proceeds to step S57.

In step S57, the priority-list creating unit 114 creates the connectedelectronic-apparatus order-of-off list in FIG. 26 by sorting theelectronic apparatuses listed in the connected electronic apparatus listsupplied from the information identifying unit 113 in step S55 in theorder of power-off based on the electronic-apparatus power-offorder-of-priority list acquired from the information storing unit 115 instep S56, and the flow proceeds to step S58.

In step S58, the priority-list creating unit 114 supplies the connectedelectronic-apparatus order-of-off list created to the power control unit97, and the processing ends. Note that the processing in step S53 andthe processing in step S54 may be processed in time series, or may beprocessed in parallel. Also, in FIG. 27, the processing in step S58 fortransmitting the connected electronic-apparatus order-of-off listcreated to the power control unit 97 can be performed when the powercontrol unit 97 requests the connected electronic-apparatus order-of-offlist of the priority-list creating unit 114, for example.

FIG. 28 is a flowchart describing the processing of the control device73 in FIG. 17. Note that the processing in FIG. 28 starts upon the powersource of the control device 73 being turned on, and the control device73 becoming operative.

In step S61 through step S65, the same processing as that in step S1through step S5 in FIG. 8 is performed. However, in step S64, with thedanger information detecting processing performed by the determiningunit 94 in FIG. 17, rather than danger information such as an intruderor burglar registered in the danger information list in FIG. 7, forexample, danger information such as floods or heavy rain, for example,registered in the danger information list in FIG. 19, is detected.Subsequently, the determining unit 94 recognizes whether or not there isa danger potential based on the detection result of the dangerinformation, and the flow proceeds to step S65 from step S64.

Subsequently, in step S65, in the event that determination is made thatthere is a danger potential, the determining unit 94 supplies a triggerb to the power control unit 97, and the flow proceeds to step S66.

In step S66, upon the trigger b being supplied from the determining unit94, for example, the power control unit 97 requests the connectedelectronic-apparatus order-of-off list of the detecting unit 95. Inresponse to the request of the power control unit 97, the detecting unit95 performs the detecting processing described in FIG. 27, and thus,creates the connected electronic-apparatus order-of-off list in FIG. 26,and supplies this to the power control unit 97, and the flow proceeds tostep S67 from step S66.

In step S67, the power control unit 97, based on the connectedelectronic-apparatus order-of-off list supplied from the detecting unit95, supplies a power control signal to the actuator 79-k, performs powercontrol processing for controlling power supply so as to turn off thepower sources of the electronic apparatuses in the order of theconnected electronic-apparatus order-of-off list, and the processingends.

Note that the detecting processing in step S66 is not performedimmediately following determining that there is a danger potential instep S65, but is performed periodically or irregularly, and theprocessing in step S67 can be performed using the connectedelectronic-apparatus order-of-off list obtained with the latestdetecting processing.

FIG. 29 is a flowchart describing the power control processing in stepS67 in FIG. 28.

In step S71, the power control unit 97 receives and acquires theconnected electronic-apparatus order-of-off list supplied from thedetecting unit 95, and the flow proceeds to step S72.

In step S72, the power control unit 97 initializes a variable #irepresenting power-off order to 1, and the flow proceeds to step S73.

In step S73, the power control unit 97 supplies a power control signalto the actuator 74-k which controls power supply as to the electricsocket 121-m to which the electronic apparatus having the power-offorder of #i of the connected electronic-apparatus order-of-off listobtained from the detecting unit 95 is connected, and thus, shuts offpower supply to (the electric socket 121-m connected to) the electronicapparatus, and the flow proceeds to step S74.

Here, a power control signal can include a period of grace, as if itwere, until power supply is shut off. In this case, the actuator 74-k,after receiving the power control signal and only the period of gracecontained in the power control signal passes, can shut off power supplyto the electric socket 121-m.

In step S74, the power control unit 97 determines whether or not thevariable #i is equal to the order N of the electronic apparatus havingthe lowest order of priority of the electronic apparatuses listed in theconnected electronic-apparatus order-of-off list, i.e., whether or notpower supply to all of the electric sockets connected to the electronicapparatuses listed in the connected electronic-apparatus order-of-offlist has been shut off. In step S74, in the event that the variable #iis not equal to the order N of the electronic apparatus having thelowest order of priority, i.e., in the event that the electronicapparatuses of which power supply has not been shut off remain, the flowproceeds to step S75, where the power control unit 97 increments thevariable #i by one, the flow returns to step S73, and hereinafter, thesame processing is repeated.

On the other hand, in step S74, in the event that the variable #i isequal to the order N of the electronic apparatus having the lowest orderof priority, i.e., in the event that the electronic apparatuses of whichpower supply has not been shut off do not remain, the flow returns.

FIG. 30 is a block diagram illustrating another configuration example ofthe determining unit 94 in FIG. 17.

The determining unit 94 in FIG. 30 comprises memory 101, a dangerinformation determining unit 102, memory 103, and a level-of-dangerdetermining unit 141. The memory 101, danger information determiningunit 102, and memory 103 in FIG. 30 have the same configuration as thecase in FIG. 18, so description thereof will be omitted as appropriate.However, the memory 103 stores a danger information list which listsdanger information accompanying a level of danger serving as importanceof danger information. Also, the danger information determining unit102, as with the case described in FIG. 18, is configured so as todetect the danger information registered in the danger information liststored in the memory 103 from the text, and determine whether or notthere is a danger potential, and further supply the determination resultto the level-of-danger determining unit 141, and also supply the dangerinformation detected from the text to the level-of-danger determiningunit 141.

Upon receiving information that there is a danger potential from thedanger information determining unit 102, the level-of-danger determiningunit 141 determines the level of danger with reference to the dangerinformation list stored in the memory 103. That is to say, thelevel-of-danger determining unit 141 recognizes the level-of-danger ofthe danger information supplied from the danger information determiningunit 102 along with the information that there is a danger potentialbased on the danger information list stored in the memory 103, anddetermines the level of the danger potential depending on thelevel-of-danger thereof. Subsequently, the level-of-danger determiningunit 141, in the event that determination is made that the dangerpotential is high, as with the danger information determining unit 102in FIG. 18, supplies a trigger b to the power supply processing unit 26and actuator control unit 28. On the other hand, the level-of-dangerdetermining unit 141, in the event that determination is made that thedanger potential is low, as with the danger information determining unit102 in FIG. 18, supplies a trigger a to the receiving informationprocessing unit 22.

FIG. 31 illustrates an example of the danger information list stored inthe memory 103 in FIG. 30.

The memory 103 in FIG. 30 stores the same two danger information listsshown in FIG. 19, for example.

However, with the danger information list in FIG. 31, a word serving asdanger information registered therein is associated with alevel-of-danger representing the level of danger in the case of the wordbeing included in the text. Note that now, let us say that the smallerthe value representing a level-of-danger, the higher the level ofdanger, as with the case in FIG. 14.

Now, if we say that the user's house is in the Hokkaido region, theprobability that danger will reach the user (user's house) is higherwhen a dangerous phenomenon occurs in the Tohoku region than when adangerous phenomenon occurs in the Kanto region. Also, the probabilitythat danger will reach the user (user's house) is higher when adangerous phenomenon occurs in the Hokkaido region than when a dangerousphenomenon occurs in the Tohoku region.

Accordingly, in FIG. 31, the level-of-danger of danger information“Hokkaido region” is “1” representing that the level of danger is thehighest in the relevant district list which is a danger informationlist. Also, the level-of-danger of danger information “Tohoku region” is“2” representing that the level of danger is next highest. Subsequently,the level-of-danger of danger information “Kanto region” is “3”representing that the level of danger is one rank lower than the dangerinformation “Tohoku region”.

The danger information registered in the danger information list(keyword list) other than the relevant district list is also associatedwith a level-of-danger in the same way.

FIG. 32 is a flowchart describing the processing of the control device73 in the case in which the determining unit 94 in FIG. 17 is configuredsuch as shown in FIG. 30.

Note that as with the case in FIG. 28, the processing in FIG. 32 startsupon the power source of the control device 73 being turned on, and thecontrol device 73 becoming operative. Also, the processing in step S81through the processing in step S85 in FIG. 32 are the same as theprocessing in step S61 through the processing in step S65 in FIG. 28, sodescription thereof will be omitted.

However, in step S85, upon determining that there is a danger potential,the danger information determining unit 52 supplies the dangerinformation included in the text obtained with the danger informationdetecting processing in step S84 corresponding to step S64 in FIG. 28 tothe level-of-danger determining unit 141 along with the information thatthere is a danger potential, and the flow proceeds to step S86.

In step S86, the level-of-danger determining unit 141 recognizes thelevel-of-danger of the danger information from the danger informationdetermining unit 52 with reference to the danger information list storedin the memory 103, and determines the level of the danger potential ofthe user (user's house) based on the level-of-danger.

Here, in step S86, for example, in the same way as the case described instep S46 in FIG. 15, the level of a danger potential can be determined.

In step S86, in the event that determination is made that a dangerpotential is not high, the flow returns to step S82, and hereinafter,the same processing is repeated. On the other hand, in step S86, in theevent that determination is made that a danger potential is high, theflow proceeds to step S87, and step S88 sequentially, where the samedetecting processing and power control processing as the case in stepS66 and step S67 in FIG. 28 is performed.

Thus, with the house 71 in FIG. 16, in the event of receivinginformation informing disaster such as water immersion or flooding, whenthere is the probability for danger approaching the user (user's house71), or when the probability for the danger approaching the user (user'shouse 71) is high, power supply to the electric socket to which anelectronic apparatus is connected is shut off. Accordingly, electricshock caused by an electric device connected to an electric socket beingshort-circuited due to water immersion or flooding or the like, or thelike can be prevented.

Also, power supply to electric sockets to which electronic apparatusesare connected is shut off in the order of priority as described above,whereby secondary disaster can be prevented, and also the evacuationroute of the user can be secured.

Note that an arrangement may be made wherein, in addition to the controldevice 73, the control device 16 is also provided in the house 71,whereby the control device 16 and control device 73 can employ thedanger information list into which both the danger information shown inFIG. 7 (FIG. 14) and FIG. 19 (FIG. 31) are registered. In this case, forexample, when heavy rain falls, the house is sealed by the controldevice 16, whereby the house 71 can be prevented from water immersiondue to the heavy rain, and electric devices can be prevented fromfailure due to getting wet.

Thus, the house in FIG. 3 and the house 71 in FIG. 16 can carry outsufficient avoidance of danger to danger information by controlling thestate of facilities in the building intelligently and dynamically. Thatis to say, the house in FIG. 3 and the house 71 in FIG. 16 receivedanger information, and can avoid the house from danger automatically.

The series of processing mentioned above in FIG. 3 through FIG. 32 canbe executed using dedicated hardware, and also can be executed usingsoftware.

In the event of executing a series of processing mentioned above in FIG.3 through FIG. 32 using software, the control device 16 in FIG. 3 andthe control device 73 in FIG. 16, for example, may be configured with acomputer such as shown in FIG. 33 as a base.

That is to say, FIG. 33 illustrates a configuration example of thecontrol device 16 (or control device 73) which is configured with acomputer as a base.

In FIG. 33, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 151 executes variousprocessing in accordance with a program stored in ROM (Read Only Memory)152, or a program loaded in RAM (Random Access Memory) 153 from astoring unit 158.

The RAM 153 also stores data necessary for the CPU 151 executing variousprocessing as appropriate.

The CPU 151, CPU 152, and RAM 153 are mutually connected via a bus 154.This bus 154 is also connected with an input/output interface.

The input/output interface 155 is connected with an input unit 156 madeup of a keyboard, mouse, and the like, an output unit 157 made up of adisplay and the like, a storing unit 158 made up of a hard disk and thelike, and a communication unit 159.

The input/output interface 155 is also connected with a drive 160 asnecessary, wherein a magnetic disk 161, optical disc 162,magneto-optical disc 163, or semiconductor memory 164 is mounted asappropriate, and a computer program read out therefrom is installed inthe storing unit 158 as necessary.

In the event of executing a series of processing using software, aprogram making up the software is installed in the computer in FIG. 33from a recording medium.

A program storing medium for storing a program which is installed in acomputer, and is changed into an executable state by the computer, asshown in FIG. 33, comprises a package media made up of the magnetic disk161 (including a floppy disk), optical disc 162 (including CD-ROM(Compact Disk-Read Only Memory), DVD (Digital Versatile Disk)),magneto-optical disk (including MD (Mini-Disk)(registered trademark)) orsemiconductor memory 164, or the CPU 152 to which the program istemporarily or eternally stored, and a hard disk making up the storingunit 158, and the like. Storing a program in the program storing mediumis performed using a cable or wireless communication medium such as alocal area network, the Internet, and digital satellite broadcasting viaan interface such as a router or modem as necessary.

The CPU 151 executes processing which the control device 16 (or controldevice 73) performs by executing the program installed in the storingunit 158.

Note that as for broadcasting transmitted with airwaves, televisionbroadcasting, radio broadcasting, satellite broadcasting, and all thebroadcasts that can acquire other voice information are employable.

Further, broadcasting is not restricted to broadcasting using airwaves,i.e., broadcasting using wireless communication, and may be cablebroadcasting such as CATV.

Also, with the first embodiment and the second embodiment, anarrangement has been made wherein danger information is detected fromvoice information, but danger information may be detected from textinformation sent by a teletext, image information included in abroadcast signal, or the like.

Further, with the first embodiment and the second embodiment, anarrangement has been made wherein the control device 73 acquires thecorrelation between an electric socket and the electronic apparatusconnected to the electric socket by receiving a wireless tag includingthe ID of the electronic apparatus, and the electric socket informationof the electric socket to which the electronic apparatus is connectedfrom the plug of the electronic apparatus, but in addition to this, thiscorrelation can be obtained as follows, for example. That is to say, theelectronic apparatus connected to an electric socket is controlled totransmit a wireless tag (airwaves) including ID. On the other hand, thedetecting unit 95 is controlled to recognize the position of theelectric socket beforehand, and further an antenna having directivity isemployed as the antenna 96, which receives airwaves transmitted from theplug connected to the electric socket. Subsequently, the detecting unit95 recognizes the direction of the plug from the direction of theairwaves transmitted from the plug connected to the electric socket, andalso recognizes the distance to the plug from the received intensity ofthe airwaves. Subsequently, the detecting unit 95 recognizes theposition of the plug from the recognized direction and distance of theplug, and can obtain, with the electric socket closest to the positionserving as the electric socket to which the electronic apparatus havingthe plug is connected, the correlation between the electric socket andthe electronic apparatus connected to the electric socket.

Third Embodiment

FIG. 34 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration example of ahouse to which the present invention is applied, serving as a thirdembodiment.

A house 201 comprises a roof 202, a residence unit 203-1 throughresidence unit 203-6, a sensor 211, a window 212-1 and window 212-2, anentrance 213, and so forth.

Of the house 201 in FIG. 34, the upper portion in the drawing isprovided with the roof 202, and of the roof 202, the lower portion inthe drawing is provided with six (multiple) generally rectangularparallelepiped residence unit (room) 203-1 through residence unit 203-6.In FIG. 34, the residence unit 203-3 and residence unit 203-4 make upthe rooms of the first floor (basement), the residence unit 203-2 andresidence unit 203-5 make up the rooms of the second floor, and theresidence unit 203-1 and residence unit 203-6 make up the rooms of thethird floor, respectively.

Also, of the roof 202, the left side in the drawing is provided with asensor 211, the outer wall of the house 201 where the residence unit203-1 and residence unit 203-2 are disposed in FIG. 34 is provided witha window 212-1 and window 212-2. Further, of the house 201, the centrallower portion of the right side face in the drawing is provided with theentrance 213.

Now, with the present example, for example, let us say that the facewhere the window 212-1 and window 212-2 of the house 201 are provided isthe front of the house 201.

The sensor 211 detects information from the outside of the house 201.For example, the sensor 211 comprises an antenna and receiver fordetecting broadcast information, a video camera for filming the sceneryof the outside of the house 201, and so forth.

With the house 201, the positions within the house 201 of the residenceunit 203-1 through residence unit 203-6 are changed depending on theinformation detected by the sensor 211 and the like.

FIG. 35 is a cross-sectional view taken along a line A-A′ of the house201 in FIG. 34, i.e., a cross-sectional view when viewing the house 201in FIG. 34 from the right-side face direction.

With the house 201, of the residence unit 203-4 through residence unit203-6, the right side in the drawing (the far side (back side) of thehouse 201 in FIG. 34) is provided with stairs 231.

The residence unit 203-1 through residence unit 203-6 are configured soas to turn in the direction of arrow B or in the opposite directionthereof, e.g., as with an automated parking tower, and thus, thepositions within the house 201 of the residence unit 203-1 throughresidence unit 203-6 are changed. With the residence unit 203-1 throughresidence unit 203-6, the positions thereof within the house 201 arechanged depending on the situation of each of the residence unit 203-1through residence unit 203-6, the distribution of persons present ineach of the residence unit 203-1 through residence unit 203-6 of thehouse, weather, time, and so forth.

Note that in FIG. 35, of the first floor, the left side in the drawing(the front side of the house 201 in FIG. 34) is positioned with theresidence unit 203-3, and of the first floor, the right side in thedrawing is positioned with the residence unit 203-4. Also, of the secondfloor, the left side in the drawing is positioned with the residenceunit 203-2, and of the first floor, the right side in the drawing ispositioned with the residence unit 203-5. Further, of the third floor,the left side in the drawing is positioned with the residence unit203-1, and of the third floor, the right side in the drawing ispositioned with the residence unit 203-6.

FIG. 36 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration example ofthe residence unit 203-1 and residence unit 203-6 when the residenceunit 203-1 and residence unit 203-6 are arrayed in the back sidedirection from the front of the house 201, such as shown in FIG. 34 andFIG. 35.

In FIG. 36, for the sake of illustrating the configuration intelligibly,the residence unit 203-1 and residence unit 203-6 are illustrated withan interval, but actually, the right-side face in the drawing of theresidence unit 203-1 is in contact with the left-side face in thedrawing of the residence unit 203-6.

The residence unit 203-1 is provided with a window frame 251-1 and adoor 252-1, and the residence unit 203-6 is provided with a window frame251-6 and a door 252-6. Also, the window frame 251-1 of the residenceunit 203-1 is provided with a windowpane 271-1, and a slide portion272-1 serving as an opening portion is formed by this windowpane 271-1sliding in the horizontal direction for example. The window frame 251-6of the residence unit 203-6 is provided with a windowpane 271-6, and aslide portion 272-6 serving as an opening portion is formed by thiswindowpane 271-6 sliding in the horizontal direction for example.

Note that with the residence unit 203-1, the window frame 251-1 isprovided on the left-side face in the drawing of the residence unit203-1 (the front side of the house 201 (the side where the window 212-1exists) in FIG. 34), and the door 252-1 is provided on the right-sideface in the drawing of the residence unit 203-1 (the depth side of thehouse 201 in FIG. 34). Also, with the residence unit 203-6, the windowframe 251-6 is provided on the left-side face in the drawing of theresidence unit 203-6, and the door 252-6 is provided on the right-sideface in the drawing of the residence unit 203-6. The door 252-1 andslide portion 272-6 are provided in positions such as arrayed on astraight line in a state in which the residence unit 203-1 and residenceunit 203-6 are arrayed in the horizontal direction as shown in FIG. 36.Accordingly, in the state in FIG. 36, the door 252-1 and slide portion272-6 are disposed on the same position.

Now, FIG. 37 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration exampleof the residence unit 203-6, viewed from the left-hand-side facedirection (the front direction of the house 201) in FIG. 36.

The windowpane 271-6 of the residence unit 203-6, as shown in FIG. 37,is configured so as to move within the frame of the window frame 251-6in the direction of arrow C in the drawing in a slide manner, and thus,the slide portion 272-6 serving as an opening portion is formed. Notethat the windowpane 271-1, window frame 251-1, and slide portion 272-1of the residence unit 203-1 are configured in the same way as thewindowpane 271-6, window frame 251-6, and slide portion 272-6 of theresidence unit 203-6 shown in FIG. 37.

As shown in FIG. 36, in the event that the right-side face of theresidence unit 203-1 is in contact with the left-side face of theresidence unit 203-6, the windowpane 271-6 moves (slides) in a slidemanner, and the slide portion 272-6 having the same size as the door252-1 is formed in the same position as the door 252-1. Accordingly,traffic between the residence unit 203-1 and the residence unit 203-6 isachieved via the door 252-1 and slide portion 272-6, and the passage toanother side from one side of the residence unit 203-1 and the residenceunit 203-6 is secured. That is to say, the windowpane 271-6 of theresidence unit 203-6 slides to form the slide portion 272-6, and thus,the residence unit 203-1 and the residence unit 203-6 will be penetratedthrough the door 252-1 and the slide portion 272-6. Accordingly, theuser can go to the residence unit 203-1 through the residence unit 203-6from the stairs 231, and can go to the stairs 231 through the residenceunit 203-6 from the residence unit 203-1 within the range of the window251-1 frame.

Further, as shown in FIG. 36, in the event that the residence unit 203-1and residence unit 203-6 are disposed, the windowpane 271-1 can make thetransition to a closed state, a full-opened (slid) state, or a slidablestate in which the user can freely open and close (slide).

Note that FIG. 36 and FIG. 37, taking the residence unit 203-1 andresidence unit 203-6 for the example, have described the arrangementthereof, but the residence unit 203-2, residence unit 203-3, residenceunit 203-4, and residence unit 203-5 are arranged in the same way as theresidence unit 203-1 and residence unit 203-6. That is to say, anarrangement is made wherein the residence unit 203-2 through residenceunit 203-5 are also provided with the window frame 251-2 through windowframe 251-5, and the door 252-2 through door 252-5 respectively, thewindow frame 251-2 through window frame 251-5 include the windowpane271-2 through windowpane 271-5 respectively, and the slide portion 272-1through slide portion 272-5 serving as opening portions are formedrespectively by the windowpane 271-2 through windowpane 271-5 beingslid.

Hereinafter, in the event that it is not necessary to distinguish theresidence unit 203-1 through residence unit 203-6, the residence unit203-1 through residence unit 203-6 are summarized as residence units203. Also, in the event that it is not necessary to distinguish thewindow frame 251-1 through window frame 251-6 which are provided in theresidence unit 203-1 through residence unit 203-6, the window frame251-1 through window frame 251-6 are summarized as window frames 251.Further, in the event that it is not necessary to distinguish the door252-1 through door 252-6 which are provided in the residence unit 203-1through residence unit 203-6, the door 252-1 through door 252-6 aresummarized as doors 252. Also, it is not necessary to distinguish thewindowpane 271-1 through windowpane 271-6 which are provided in thewindow frame 251-1 through window frame 251-6, the windowpane 271-1through windowpane 271-6 are summarized as windowpanes 271. Further, inthe event that t is not necessary to distinguish the slide portion 272-1through slide portion 272-6 serving as opening portions which are formedby the windowpane 271-2 through windowpane 271-6 being slid, the slideportion 272-1 through slide portion 272-6 are summarized as slideportions 272.

FIG. 38 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of acontrol system for performing control as to the house 201 in FIG. 34.

The control system in FIG. 38 comprises the six residence unit 203-1through residence unit 203-6 of the house 201, and a control device 290serving as an electronic apparatus for controlling the six (multiple)residence unit 203-1 through residence unit 203-6.

The control device 290 comprises an information acquiring unit 291, aunit-position determining unit 292, a control unit 293, and a drivingunit 294.

The information acquiring unit 291 comprises a broadcasting informationextracting unit 311, an illumination sensor 312, a temperature sensor313, a clock 314, an infrared sensor 315, a sound sensor 316, and anaction detecting unit 317.

The broadcasting information extracting unit 311 receives a broadcastingsignal such as television broadcasting, extracts (acquires)predetermined information (e.g., weather forecast information) (statusinformation) from the received broadcasting signal, and supplies this tothe unit-position determining unit 292 as broadcasting information.

The illumination sensor 312, for example, which is provided in therespective residence units 203, detects (acquires) the illumination ofthe respective residence units 203 (status information), and suppliesthe illumination detection results to the unit-position determining unit292.

The temperature sensor 313, for example, which is provided in therespective residence units 203, detects (acquires) the temperature ofthe respective residence units 203 (status information), and suppliesthe temperature detection results to the unit-position determining unit292.

The clock 314 counts point-in-time, detects (acquires) the currentpoint-in-time (status information), and supplies this to theunit-position determining unit 292 as point-in-time information.

The infrared sensor 315, for example, which is provided on the doors 252serving as the entrances of the respective residence units, detects andcounts passage of an object, and thus, and detects (acquires)information (status information) representing presence of a personwithin the respective residence units 203. Subsequently, the infraredsensor 315 supplies the detection results to the unit-positiondetermining unit 292 as person's presence information.

The sound sensor 316, for example, which is provided in the respectiveresidence units 203, detects (acquires) volume (status information), andsupplies this to the unit position determining unit 292 as volumedetection results.

The action detecting unit 317, for example, which is provided in therespective residence units 203, detects (acquires) the action (statusinformation) of a person present in the respective residence units 203,for example, such as viewing/listening to a television broadcastingprogram, or viewing/listening to the other content stored in a DVD(Digital Versatile Disk), or the like by detecting the operation statusof the electronic apparatuses provided in the respective residence units203. Also, the action detecting unit 317 records the actions of a personpresent in the respective residence units 203 using a video camera orthe like, and detects the actions of a person based on the filmedinformation. The action detecting unit 317 supplies the detected actioninformation representing the actions of a person within the respectiveresidence units 203 to the unit-position determining unit 292.

Note that the above sensor 211 in FIG. 34, for example, is equivalent toan antenna or the like for receiving a broadcasting signal such astelevision broadcasting supplied to the broadcasting informationextracting unit 311 of the information acquiring unit 291.

The unit-position determining unit 292 determines the positions of thesix residence unit 203-1 through residence unit 203-6 making up thehouse 201 within the house 201 based on the status information servingas broadcasting information, illumination detection results, temperaturedetection results, point-in-time information, person presenceinformation, volume detection results, and action information, which aresupplied from the information acquiring unit 291, and supplies these tothe control unit 293 as positional information.

The control unit 293 controls the driving unit 294 based on thepositional information supplied from the unit-position determining unit292 to change the positions of the six residence unit 203-1 throughresidence unit 203-6 within the house 201, for example, by moving thesix residence unit 203-1 through residence unit 203-6 making up thehouse 201 as with an automated parking tower. That is to say, thecontrol unit 293 changes the configuration of the house 201.

The driving unit 294, which is controlled by the control unit 293, movesthe residence unit 203-1 through residence unit 203-6 as with anautomated parking tower, for example.

With the control system thus configured, the information acquiring unit291 acquires status information, supplies this to the unit-positiondetermining unit 292, and the unit-position determining unit 292determines the positions of the residence units 203 within the house 201based on the status information. Subsequently, the unit-positiondetermining unit 292 supplies information of the determined positions ofthe residence units 203 to the control unit 293 as positionalinformation, the control unit 293 changes the positions of the residenceunits 203 within the house 201 by controlling the driving unit 294 basedon the positional information, for example, by moving the residenceunits 203 as with an automated parking tower.

FIG. 39 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed configuration exampleof the broadcasting information extracting unit 311 in FIG. 38.

The broadcasting information extracting unit 311 comprises a tuner 331,a demodulation unit 332, an error-correction processing unit 333, ademultiplexer 334, an audio decoder 335, voice memory 336, and amatching circuit 337.

The tuner 331 is supplied with the broadcasting signal of the digitalbroadcasting (television broadcasting) received by an unshown antenna.The broadcasting signal of this digital broadcasting is digital datastipulated with the MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group)-2 or the like,and is transmitted as a transport stream made up of multiple TS(Transport Stream) packets. The tuner 331 selects the broadcastingsignal of a predetermined channel (frequency) from the broadcastingsignals of multiple channels supplied from the antenna, and supplies thebroadcasting signal of the selected channel to the demodulation unit332.

The demodulation unit 332 demodulates the transport stream of thebroadcasting signal of a predetermined channel supplied from the tuner331 using, for example, QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying) modulationor the like, and supplies the transport stream obtained with themodulation to the error-correction processing unit 333.

The error-correction processing unit 333 detects an error from thetransport stream supplied from the demodulation unit 332, and correctsthis. Subsequently, the transport stream following the correctionprocessing is supplied to the demultiplexer 334.

The demultiplexer 334 selects audio packets from the transport streamsupplied from the error-correction processing unit 333, and further,subjects the audio packets to descrambling processing as necessary, andsupplies the TS packets of the audio data obtained as a result to theaudio decoder 335.

The audio decoder 335 decodes the audio data supplied from thedemultiplexer 334 using the MPEG-2 method, and supplies this to thematching circuit 337.

The matching circuit 337 reads out (the standard pattern of) the audiodata of a keyword stored in the voice memory 336, and performs matchingprocessing for determining whether or not the audio data of the keywordis identical with the audio data, which was decoded with the MPEG-2method, supplied from the audio decoder 335. Here, as for the matchingprocessing, for example, speech recognition processing can be employed,such as continuous distribution HMM (Hidden Markov Model) method.

Also, in the event that determination is made that the audio data of akeyword stored in the voice memory 336 is identical with the audio data,which was decoded with the MPEG-2 method, supplied from the audiodecoder 335, i.e., in the event that the keyword is included in thevoice of the broadcasting signal, the matching circuit 337 supplies (theaudio data of) the keyword to the unit-position determining unit 292 asbroadcasting information.

The voice memory 336 stores the audio data of the keywords relating toweather forecast such as “fine weather” and “typhoon”, for example. Thevoice memory 336 supplies the audio data of the keyword stored thereinto the matching circuit 337 as necessary. Note that the user canregister a desired keyword into the voice memory 336 as necessary.

With the broadcasting information extracting unit 311 thus configured,the broadcasting signal of the digital broadcasting received from theunshown antenna is supplied to the tuner 331, the tuner 331 selects thebroadcasting signal of a predetermined channel (frequency) from thebroadcasting signals of multiple channels supplied from the antenna, andsupplies the broadcasting signal of the selected channel to thedemodulation unit 332. The demodulation unit 332 demodulates thebroadcasting signal of a predetermined channel supplied from the tuner331, and supplies the transport stream obtained as a result to theerror-correction processing unit 333. The error-correction processingunit 333 detects an error from the transport stream supplied from thedemodulation unit 332, and corrects this. Subsequently, the transportstream following the correction processing is supplied to thedemultiplexer 334, the demultiplexer 334 selects audio data TS packetsfrom the transport stream supplied from the error-correction processingunit 333, and supplies these to the audio decoder 335.

The audio decoder 335 decodes the audio data supplied from thedemultiplexer 334 using the MPEG-2 method, and supplies this to thematching circuit 337. The matching circuit 337 reads out (the standardpattern of) the audio data of a keyword stored in the voice memory 336,and performs matching processing (for example, so-called word spotting)for determining whether or not the audio data of the keyword isidentical with the audio data, which was decoded with the MPEG-2 method,supplied from the audio decoder 335, and thus, detects the keywordsstored in the voice memory 336 from the broadcasting signal.Subsequently, in the event that the matching circuit 337 detects (theaudio data of) a keyword, the matching circuit 337 supplies the keywordto the unit-position determining unit 292 as broadcasting information.

Next, description will be made regarding control processing performedwhen the control device 290 in FIG. 38 changes the positions of theresidence units 203 with reference to FIG. 40. This control processing,for example, starts when the power source of the control device 290 isturned on.

In step S111, the information acquiring unit 291 acquires statusinformation, supplies this to the unit-position determining unit 292,and the flow proceeds to step S112.

Specifically, the broadcasting information extracting unit 311 of theinformation acquiring unit 291 receives a broadcasting signal such astelevision broadcasting via the unshown antenna, extracts (acquires)weather forecast information or the like serving as status informationfrom the received broadcasting signal, and supplies this to theunit-position determining unit 292 as broadcasting information. Theillumination sensor 312 of the information acquiring unit 291 detects(acquires) the illumination of the respective residence units 203serving as status information, and supplies the illumination detectionresults to the unit-position determining unit 292 as status information.The temperature sensor 313 of the information acquiring unit 291 detects(acquires) the temperature of the respective residence units 203 servingas status information, and supplies the temperature detection results tothe unit-position determining unit 292. The clock 314 of the informationacquiring unit 291 counts point-in-time, detects (acquires) the currentpoint-in-time serving as status information, and supplies this to theunit-position determining unit 292 as point-in-time information. Theinfrared sensor 315 of the information acquiring unit 291 detects(acquires) the presence of a person present in the respective residenceunits 203 serving as status information, and supplies the detectionresults to the unit-position determining unit 292 as person presenceinformation. The sound sensor 316 of the information acquiring unit 291detects (acquires) volume serving as status information in therespective residence units 203, and supplies this to the unit-positiondetermining unit 292 as volume detection results. The action detectingunit 317 of the information acquiring unit 291 detects (acquires) theaction of a person present in the respective residence units 203 servingas status information, and supplies the detection results to theunit-position determining unit 292 as action information.

In step S112, the unit-position determining unit 292 determines thepositions of the residence units 203 within the house 201 based on thestatus information supplied from the information acquiring unit 291 instep S111, supplies positional information representing the determinedpositions of the residence units 203 to the control unit 293, and theflow proceeds to step S113.

In step S113, the control unit 293 controls the driving unit 294 basedon the positional information supplied from the unit-positiondetermining unit 292 in step S112 to change the positions of theresidence unit 203-1 through residence unit 203-6 within the house 201respectively, and the flow proceeds to step S114. That is to say, thecontrol unit 293 changes the configuration of the house 201.

In step S114, the control unit 293 determines whether or not theprocessing ends. The control unit 293, for example, in the event thatthe power source of the control device 290 is left on, determines thatthe processing does not end, the flow returns to step S111, where theabove processing is repeated.

On the other hand, in step S114, for example, in the event that thepower source of the control device 290 has been turned off, the controlunit 293 determines that the processing ends, and the processing ends.

Note that thus, simultaneously with changing the positions of theresidence unit 203-1 through residence unit 203-6 within the house 201,the control unit 293 controls the driving unit 294 to perform openingand closing of the windowpanes 271 described in FIG. 36 and FIG. 37.

For example, as shown in FIG. 36, in the event that the residence unit203-1 is changed to the position of the front of the house 201, and theresidence unit 203-6 is changed to the back side position of the house201, the control unit 293 controls the driving unit 294 to slide thewindowpane 271-6 of the residence unit 203-6, and form the slide portion272-6 serving as an opening portion. Thus, traffic between the residenceunit 203-1 and residence unit 203-6 can be performed via the door 252-1and slide portion 272-6. Also, in the event that the residence unit203-1 is changed to the back side position of the house 201, and theresidence unit 203-6 is changed to the front of the house 201, thecontrol unit 293 controls the driving unit 294 to slide the windowpane271-1 of the residence unit 203-1, and form the slide portion 272-1serving as an opening portion. Thus, traffic between the residence unit203-1 and residence unit 203-6 can be performed via the door 252-6 andwindowpane 271-1.

FIG. 41 is a diagram illustrating room examples assigned to theresidence unit 203-1 through residence unit 203-6 of the house 201 shownin FIG. 35.

In FIG. 41, a clothes-drying room is assigned to the residence unit203-1, a living room to the residence unit 203-2, and a bedroom to theresidence unit 203-3, respectively. Also, a living room is assigned tothe residence unit 203-4, a study room to the residence unit 203-5, anda room without windows to the residence unit 203-6, respectively. Theresidence unit 203-1 through residence unit 203-6 are moved in thedirection of arrow D (or in the opposite direction thereof) in thedrawing as with an automated parking tower based on the statusinformation obtained by the information acquiring unit 291.

Note that hereinafter, the residence unit 203-1 through residence unit203-6 to which the clothes-drying room, living room, bedroom, livingroom, study room, and room without windows are assigned respectively arealso referred to as the clothes-drying room 203-1, living room 203-2,bedroom 203-3, living room 203-4, study room 203-5, and room withoutwindows 203-6.

Here, the resident of the house 201 can determine what kind of room isassigned to the residence unit 203-1 through residence unit 203-6 (whatkind of room the residence unit 203-1 through residence unit 203-6 willbe), for example. Also, the names of the rooms assigned to the residenceunit 203-1 through residence unit 203-6 basically represent thecharacter, a function, or a role of the room thereof, but this is onlyfor the sake of expediency.

Next, description will be made regarding an example ofposition-of-bedroom determination processing in which the unit-positiondetermining unit 292 determines the position of a bedroom 202-3 in stepS122 in FIG. 40, with reference to FIG. 42.

In step S131, the unit-position determining unit 292 determines whetheror not the current time zone is in the morning based on thepoint-in-time information, which represents the current point-in-time,supplied from the clock 314 of the information acquiring unit 291. Forexample, the unit-position determining unit 292, in the event that thecurrent point-in-time is from 6 o'clock to 10 o'clock, determines thatthe current time zone is in the morning.

In step S131, in the event that determination is made that the currenttime zone is in the morning, the flow proceeds to step S132, where theunit-position determining unit 292 determines the position of thebedroom 203-3 as near the entrance 213 (FIG. 34), and the processingends. In this case, in FIG. 41, the bedroom 203-3 positioned in thelowest position on the left side, for example, is moved to the lowestposition on the right side. Thus, the user can shorten time after wakingup at the bedroom 203-3 in the morning until the user goes to theentrance 213, thereby leaving the house 201 quickly.

On the other hand, in step S131, in the event that determination is madethat the current point-in-time is not in the morning, the flow proceedsto step S133, where, based on volume detection result, which is suppliedfrom the sound sensor 316 of the information acquiring unit 291, forexample, of the next room of the bedroom 203-3 in FIG. 41, i.e., theliving room 203-4, the unit-position determining unit 292 determineswhether or not the living room 203-4 of the next room of the bedroom203-3 is noisy. For example, in the event that the volume is greaterthan a predetermined value, the unit-position determining unit 292determines that the living room 203-4 of the next room is noisy.

In step S133, in the event that determination is made that the livingroom 203-4 of the next room is noisy, the flow proceeds to step S134,where the unit-position determining unit 292 determines the position ofthe bedroom 203-3 within the house 201 as the upper or lower position(upper part or lower part) of the noisy living room 203-4, and theprocessing ends. In this case, in FIG. 41, the bedroom 203-3 positionedin the lowest position on the left side, for example, is moved to thesecond position from the top on the left side. Thus, the spatialrelationship between the noisy living room 203-4 which is the next roomof the bedroom and the bedroom 203-3 becomes a vertical spatialrelationship, so sound cannot be heard as easily as the case where theyare next doors, whereby the user present in the bedroom 203-3 can takesleep without being interrupted by the noise of the living room 203-4.

On the other hand, in step S133, in the event that determination is madethat the living room 203-4 of the next room is not noisy, the flowproceeds to step S135, where the position of the bedroom 203-3 isdetermined as the position where the morning sun hits, for example, theposition adjacent to the window 212-1 or window 212-2, and theprocessing ends. In this case, in FIG. 41, the bedroom 203-3 positionedin the lowest position on the left side, for example, is moved to thehighest position on the left side. Thus, the user present in the bedroom203-3 can get up comfortably, basking in the light of the morning sunwhich enters from the window 212-1 or window 212-2 for example.

As described above, the unit-position determining unit 292 forperforming position determination processing of the bedroom 203-3 inFIG. 41 determines the position of the bedroom 203-3 as near theentrance 213 such that the user present in the bedroom 203-3 can leavethe house 201 quickly when leaving for work or school. Also, theunit-position determining unit 292 determines the position of thebedroom 203-3 as the position which is not next door to the noisy nextroom so that sleep of the user present in the bedroom 203-3 may not beinterrupted when the next room is noisy in the bedtime-hour zone whichis not morning, and determines the position of the bedroom as theposition where the morning sun hits so that the morning sun shines onthe user present in the bedroom 203-3 when the next room is not noisy.

Thus, the control device 290 (electronic apparatus) determinessituations aggressively, and changes the positions of the residenceunits 203 within the house 201. In other words, the house 201 determinesvarious status information dynamically, changes the positions of theresidence units 203 so that the user can live more comfortably withinthe house 201, thereby changing the configuration (facilities) of thehouse 201 in an adaptive manner. Thus, intelligent active integration ofa house and electronic apparatuses is realized, whereby the user can beprovided with very high convenience and so forth.

FIG. 43 illustrates an example in which the position of the bedroom203-3 in FIG. 41 is modified by the position-of-bedroom 203-3determination processing in FIG. 42 which the unit-position determiningunit 292 performs.

Now, let us say that the residence unit 203-1 through residence unit203-6 are in the positions shown in FIG. 41, for example, the currenttime zone is not morning, and the living room 203-4 which is the nextroom of the (occupied) bedroom 203-3 where a person is present is in anoisy situation. In this case, the unit-position determining unit 292performs processing in steps S131, S133, and S134 in FIG. 42, as shownin FIG. 43, and determines the position of the bedroom 203-3 as theposition of the upper portion or lower portion of the noisy room, forexample. Note that in FIG. 43, the study room 203-5 is in an unoccupiedsituation.

Subsequently, the unit-position determining unit 292 supplies thedetermined positional information of the bedroom 203-3 to the controlunit 293. The control unit 293 controls the driving unit 294, forexample, to move the residence units 203 by one unit in the direction ofarrow D of FIG. 41 as with an automated parking tower, thereby movingthe bedroom 203-3 to the position of the upper portion of the noisyliving room 203-4 as shown in FIG. 43.

Note that in FIG. 42, description has been made regarding the positiondetermination processing of the bedroom 203-3, but even with theclothes-drying room 203-1, living room 203-2, living room 203-4, studyroom 203-5, and room 203-6 without windows, positional determinationprocessing is performed, in the same way, depending on the statusinformation acquired by the information acquiring unit 291. In thiscase, the unit-position determining unit 292, in accordance withpredetermining conditions, determines the order of priorities of theclothes-drying room 203-1, living room 203-2, bedroom 203-3, living room203-4, study room 203-5, and room 203-6 without windows, and determinesthe final positions of the residence units 203 based on the order of thepriorities and the positions (determined positions) determined with theposition determination processing. Subsequently, the unit-positiondetermining unit 292 supplies the position information representing thefinal positions to the control unit 293. That is to say, the residenceunits 203 are moved as with an automated parking tower for example, soall of the residence unit 203-1 through residence unit 203-6 cannotalways be moved to the positions determined by the unit-positiondetermining unit 292. Accordingly, the unit-position determining unit292 determines the order of priorities of the residence units 203, anddetermines the positions of the residence units 203 having the order ofhigh priority based on the determined order of priorities and thedetermined positions. Here, the order of priorities of the residenceunits 203 is determined according to the instructions of the user or thelike, but can be determined beforehand, and also can be determined in anadaptation manner based on the status information acquired by theinformation acquiring unit 291, or the like.

FIG. 44 is a diagram illustrating a relation example between theacquisition information (status information) acquired by the informationacquiring unit 291 and the positions of the residence units 203determined by the unit-position determining unit 292.

The unit-position determining unit 292 determines the position where thesun hits most, and also the window 212-1 or window 212-2 is set as theposition of the clothes-drying room 203-1′ based on the illuminationdetection result (sunshine) representing the illuminations of therespective residence units 203 supplied from the illumination sensor 312of the information acquiring unit 291. Based on the positionalinformation representing the position of the clothes-drying room 203-1thus determined by the unit-position determining unit 292, the controlunit 293 controls the driving unit 294 to move the position of theclothes-drying room 203-1, so that the clothes-drying room 203-1 ismoved to the position where the window 212-1 or window 212-2 isinstalled serving as the position where the sun hits most. Accordingly,the laundry hung up to dry in the clothes-drying room 203-1 driesquicker.

Also, the unit-position determining unit 292 determines whether it ismorning or night based on the point-in-time information (time zone)representing the current point-in-time supplied from the clock 314 ofthe information acquiring unit 291, and in the event that determinationis made that it is morning, the unit-position determining unit 292determines the position of the bedroom 203-3 as the position of thefirst floor near the entrance 213. On the other hand, in the event thatdetermination is made that it is night, the unit-position determiningunit 292 determines the position of the bedroom 203-3 as the positionwhere the morning sun hits (the position where the window 212-1 orwindow 212-2 exists in the present example) at dawn. Based on thepositional information representing the position of the bedroom 203-3thus determined by the unit-position determining unit 292, the controlunit 293 controls the driving unit 294 to move the bedroom 203-3, andthus, when the time zone is in the morning, the bedroom 203-3 is movedto the position of the first floor near the entrance 213. Accordingly,the user present in the bedroom 203-3 can leave the house 201 quicklywhen leaving for work or school in the morning. On the other hand, inthe event that the time zone is night, the bedroom 203-3 is moved to theposition where the window 212-1 or window 212-2 exists serving as theposition where the morning sun hits, at dawn. Accordingly, the userpresent in the bedroom 203-3 can wake up at break of dawn in the morningsun.

Further, the unit-position determining unit 292, based on the person'spresence information representing person's presence supplied from theinfrared sensor 315 of the information acquiring unit 291, determineswhether a person is present in the living room 203-2 (or living room203-4), and in the event that determination is made that a person ispresent, the unit-position determining unit 292 determines the positionof the living room 203-2 as the position with the window 212-1, which isa scenic position, such as the highest floor of the house 201, forexample. On the other hand, in the event that determination is made thata person is not present, the unit-position determining unit 292determines the position of the living room 203-2 as an arbitraryposition. Based on the positional information representing the positionof the living room 203-2 thus determined by the unit-positiondetermining unit 292, the control unit 293 controls the driving unit 294to move the living room 203-2, so that in the event that a person ispresent in the living room 203-2, the living room 203-2 is moved to theposition with the window 212-1, which is a scenic position, for example.Accordingly, the user present in the living room 203-2 can spend timecomfortably at a scenic position.

Also, the unit-position determining unit 292, based on the actioninformation representing a person's action supplied from the actiondetecting unit 317 of the information acquiring unit 291, determineswhat a person within the living room 203-2 (or living room 203-4) isdoing, for example, in the event that determination is made that theperson is viewing/listening to the content stored in a DVD or the like,the unit-position determining unit 292 determines the position of theliving room 203-2 as the position (for example, the first floor of FIG.34) where the outdoor daylight shining in from a window 212-1 or awindow 212-2 does not hit. Depending on the positional informationrepresenting the position of the living room 203-2 thus determined bythe unit-position determining unit 292, the control unit 293 controlsthe driving unit 294 to move the living room 203-2, so that in the eventthat the person present in the living room 203-2 is viewing/listening tothe content stored in a DVD or the like, the living room 203-2 is movedto the position of the first floor where outer daylight does not hit.Accordingly, the user present in the living room 203-2 can view andlisten to the content stored in the DVD or the like comfortably in adark state in which outer daylight does not shine in.

Further, the unit-position determining unit 292, based on the weatherforecast of the broadcasting information supplied from the broadcastinginformation extracting unit 311 of the information acquiring unit 291,determines the positions of the clothes-drying room 203-1 and livingroom 203-2 (or living room 203-4), and changes the positions of theclothes-drying room 203-1 and living room 203-2 within the house 201with high priority (by setting the order of priorities thereof high).

That is to say, upon determining that the weather is fine today from theweather forecast, the unit-position determining unit 292 determines theposition where the window 212-1 or window 212-2 is installed (e.g., thetop position or second position on the left side in FIG. 43), which isthe position where the sun hits most, as the position of theclothes-drying room 203-1 with high priority based on the illuminationdetection results (sunshine) representing the illuminations of therespective residence units 203 supplied from the illumination sensor312, as described above. Based on the positional informationrepresenting the position of the clothes-drying room 203-1 thusdetermined by the unit-position determining unit 292, the control unit293 controls the driving unit 294 to move the clothes-drying room 203-1,so that in the event that it is predicted that it is fine weather, theclothes-drying room 203-1 is moved to the position where the window212-1 or window 212-2 is disposed serving as the position where the sunhits most. Accordingly, the laundry hung up to dry in the clothes-dryingroom 203-1 dries quicker.

Also, upon determining that a typhoon is approaching based on theweather forecast, the unit-position determining unit 292 determines theposition of the living room 203-2 (or living room 203-4) with highpriority as the position without the window 212-1 and window 212-2(e.g., the first floor in FIG. 34). Based on the positional informationrepresenting the position of the living room 203-2 thus determined bythe unit-position determining unit 292, the control unit 293 controlsthe driving unit 294 to move the living room 203-2, and thus, in theevent that it is predicted a typhoon is approaching, the living room203-2 is moved with high priority to the position without windows of thefirst floor. Accordingly, damage such as windowpanes being broken by atyphoon can be prevented.

As described above, the residence units 203 are moved as with anautomated parking tower for example, so all of the residence units 203cannot always be moved to the positions determined by the unit-positiondetermining unit 292, but in the event that determination is made thatthe current weather is fine, the clothes-drying room 203-1 can be movedwith high priority to the position where the sun hits most, so that thelaundry hung up to dry in the clothes-drying room 203-1 can dry withhigh priority. Also, in the event that it is predicted a typhoon isapproaching, the living room 203-2 (or living room 203-4) can be movedwith high priority to the position without windows, whereby damage suchas windowpanes being broken by a typhoon can be prevented with higherpriority.

Note that with the above description, the unit-position determining unit292 recognizes the position where the sun strikes from the positionwhere the window 212-1 or window 212-2 is installed based on theillumination sensor 312 provided in the respective residence units 203,but an arrangement may be made wherein, for example, the position whereit is predicted to be that it is sunny, such as the highest floor, isparticularly recognized as the position where the sun hits most.

Also, as described above, in addition to changing the positions of theliving units 203, the living room 203-2 or living room 203-4 where aperson is can be moved to an shady position on a hot day, and to a sunnyposition on a cold day. Further, in the event that an elderly personliable to fall ill is in the living room 203-2 or living room 203-4, theliving room 203-2 or living room 203-4 can be moved to a position of thefirst floor so as to prevent the elderly person from burden. On theother hand, in the event that a healthy elderly person is in the livingroom 203-2 or living room 203-4, the living room 203-2 or living room203-4 can be moved to a position of the upper floor (higher than thefirst floor) so as to make the elderly person do some exercise.

FIG. 45 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of acontrol system for performing control of the house 201 in FIG. 34.

With the control system in FIG. 45, in addition to changing thepositions of the residence units 203 within the house 201, the functionsof the windowpanes 271 of the residence units 203 are changed dependingon the positions of the residence units 203.

The control system in FIG. 45 comprises a control device 350 whichcontrols the six (multiple) residence unit 203-1 through residence unit203-6 of the house 201, and the windowpane 271-1 through windowpane271-6 provided respectively in the residence unit 203-1 throughresidence unit 203-6 and the residence unit 203-1 through residence unit203-6.

Note that the components denoted by the same reference numerals as thosein FIG. 38, i.e., the residence unit 203-1 through residence unit 203-6in FIG. 45, information acquiring unit 291, unit-position determiningunit 292, and driving unit 294 are the same components in FIG. 38, soredundant description thereof will be omitted.

Also, the windowpane 271-1 through windowpane 271-6 are provided in theresidence unit 203-1 through residence unit 203-6 respectively, but inFIG. 45, in order to avoid the drawing from becoming complicated, thewindowpane 271-1 through windowpane 271-6, and the residence unit 203-1through residence unit 203-6, are separately illustrated.

The control device 350 comprises an information acquiring unit 291, aunit-position determining unit 292, a driving unit 294, a control unit351, a display image selecting unit 352, and a video camera 353.

The control unit 351 of the control device 350, as with the control unit293 in FIG. 38, changes the configuration of the house 201. That is tosay, the control unit 351 controls the driving unit 294 based on thepositional information supplied from the unit-position determining unit292 to change the positions of the six residence unit 203-1 throughresidence unit 203-6 within the house 201, for example, by moving thesix residence unit 203-1 through residence unit 203-6 making up thehouse 201 as with an automated parking tower. Also, the control unit 351supplies the positional information supplied from the unit-positiondetermining unit 292 to the display image selecting unit 352.

The display image selecting unit 352 determines the functions of thewindowpanes 271, and controls the windowpanes 271, thereby displayingthe image or the like supplied from the video camera 353 on thewindowpanes 271, or changing the transparency of the windowpanes 271.

The video camera 353 films the scenery of the outside of the house 201for example, and supplies the filmed image (data) to the display imageselecting unit 352.

The windowpanes 271 comprises a liquid crystal panel for example, undercontrol of the display image selecting unit 352, displays apredetermined image, or changes the degree of transparency.

With the control system thus configured, the information acquiring unit291 acquires status information, supplies this to the unit-positiondetermining unit 292, and the unit-position determining unit 292determines the positions of the residence units 203 within the house 201based on the status information. Subsequently, the unit-positiondetermining unit 292 supplies information of the determined positions ofthe residence units 203 to the control unit 351 as positionalinformation, the control unit 351 changes the positions of the residenceunits 203 by controlling the driving unit 294 based on the positionalinformation, thereby moving the positions of the residence units 203 aswith an automated parking tower, for example.

Also, the unit-position determining unit 292 supplies the positionalinformation to the control unit 351, and the control unit 351 suppliesthe positional information supplied from the unit-position determiningunit 292 to the display image selecting unit 352. The display imageselecting unit 352 selects the image or the like filmed by the videocamera 353 depending on the positional information to display theselected image on the windowpanes 271 or to change the transparency ofthe windowpanes 271.

FIG. 46 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed configuration exampleof the display image selecting unit 352 in FIG. 45.

The display image selecting unit 352 comprises a request acquiring unit371, a function determining unit 372, a function storing unit 373, atransparency modifying unit 374, an image modifying unit 375, and imagestoring unit 376.

The request acquiring unit 371 is supplied with a function modificationrequest signal representing the request of modification of the functionsof the windowpanes 271 according to the operations of an unshownoperating unit by the user, and the request acquiring unit 371 suppliesthe function modification request signal to the function determiningunit 372. Also, the user selects the desired function from alater-described function list of the windowpanes 271 which is displayedon the windowpanes 271 by operating the unshown operating unit, and aselection signal representing the selected desired function is suppliedto the request acquiring unit 371. The request acquiring unit 371supplies the selection signal to the function determining unit 372.

The function determining unit 372 reads out the function list of thewindowpanes 271 stored in the function storing unit 373 based on thefunction modification request signal supplied from the request acquiringunit 371, and the positional information supplied from the control unit351, and displays this on the windowpanes 271. Also, the functiondetermining unit 372 determines the functions of the windowpanes 271 inaccordance with the selection signal supplied from the request acquiringunit 371, and supplies functional information representing thedetermined functions to the transparency modifying unit 374 and imagemodifying unit 375 to change the functions of the windowpanes 271. Thatis to say, the function determining unit 372 changes the functions ofthe windowpanes 271 in accordance with the positional informationsupplied from the control unit 351.

The function storing unit 373 stores the function list of thewindowpanes 271, associating with the positions of the residence units203.

The transparency modifying unit 374 sets and changes the transparency ofthe windowpanes 271 to any one of transparent, translucent, and opaque,for example, based on the functional information of the windowpanes 271supplied from the function determining unit 372. For example, thewindowpanes 271 are made up of a liquid crystal panel, and thetransparency modifying unit 374 changes the transparency of thewindowpanes 271 by changing voltage to be applied to the liquid crystalpanels of the windowpanes 271.

The image modifying unit 375 is, for example, made up of a projector,and reads out an image to be displayed on the windowpanes 271 from theimage storing unit 376 based on the functional information of thewindowpanes 271 supplied from the function determining unit 372, anddisplays the readout image on the windowpanes 271. That is to say, theimage modifying unit 375 changes an image to be displayed on thewindowpanes 271 in accordance with the function determined by thefunction determining unit 372.

The image storing unit 376 is supplied with an image of the scenery ofthe outside of the house 201 from the video camera 353, and stores theimage. Also, the image storing unit 175 stores beforehand images, suchas the images registered by the user, a scene camera, other wallpaperpatterns, a shoji pattern, a painting, vase, a bookshelf, and so forth.

With the display image selecting unit 352 thus configured, the functionmodification request signal of the windowpanes 271 is supplied to therequest acquiring unit 371 in accordance with operations of the unshownoperating unit, and the request acquiring unit 371 supplies the functionmodification request signal to the function determining unit 372. Thefunction determining unit 372 is supplied with the positionalinformation of the residence units 203 from the control unit 351, andthe function determining unit 372 reads out the function list of thewindowpanes 271 from the function storing unit 373 in accordance withthe positional information to display this on the windowpanes 271 viathe image modifying unit 375.

Subsequently, upon the user viewing the function list displayed on thewindowpanes 271, operating the unshown operating unit, and selecting thedesired function from the displayed function list, the selection signalrepresenting the selected function is supplied to the request acquiringunit 371, and the request acquiring unit 371 supplies the selectionsignal to the function determining unit 372. The function determiningunit 372 determines the functions of the windowpanes 271 based on theselection signal supplied from the request acquiring unit 371, andsupplies the functional information representing the determined functionto the transparency modifying unit 374 and image modifying unit 375. Thetransparency modifying unit 374 changes the transparency of thewindowpanes 271 based on the functional information supplied from thefunction determining unit 372. The image modifying unit 375 reads out animage from the image storing unit 376 to display this on the windowpanes271 based on the functional information from the function determiningunit 372, and thus, changes the image to be displayed on the windowpanes271.

Next, description will be made regarding control processing in which thecontrol device 350 in FIG. 45 controls the residence units 203 andwindowpanes 271 with reference to FIG. 47. This control processing, forexample starts when the power source of the control device 350 is turnedon.

Note that step S151 through step S153 are the same processing as stepS111 through step S113 in FIG. 40, so redundant description thereof willbe omitted.

However, in step S152, following the unit-position determining unit 292supplying the positional information to the control unit 351, thecontrol unit 351 supplies the positional information to the displayimage selecting unit 352.

Following the processing in step S153, in step S154, the display imageselecting unit 352 displays a predetermined image stored beforehand inthe image storing unit 376 on the windowpanes 271 as an initial image,and the flow proceeds to step S155. Here, the display image selectingunit 352, which is made up of a projector as described above forexample, displays the image on the windowpanes 271 by casting the lightcorresponding to the image on the windowpanes 271.

In step S155, the display image selecting unit 352 determines whether ornot modification of the functions of the windowpanes 271 is instructedby user operations of the unshown operating unit. That is to say, thedisplay image selecting unit 352 determines whether or not the functionmodification request signal representing modification request of thefunctions of the windowpanes 271 is supplied depending on the useroperations of the unshown operating unit.

In step S155, in the event that determination is made that modificationof the functions of the windowpanes 271 is instructed, the flow proceedsto step S156, where the display image selecting unit 352 determines thefunctions of the windowpanes 271 in accordance with the positionalinformation supplied in step S152, and the flow proceeds to step S157.

Specifically, in step S155, in the event that determination is made thatthe function modification request signal is supplied depending on theuser operations of the unshown operating unit, in step S156, thefunction determining unit 372 of the display image selecting unit 352reads out the function list of the windowpanes 271 from the functionstoring unit 373 to display this on the windowpanes 271 in accordancewith the positional information supplied from the control unit 351.Subsequently, upon the user viewing the function list displayed on thewindowpanes 271, operating the unshown operating unit, and selecting thedesired function from the displayed function list, the selection signalrepresenting the selected function is supplied to the request acquiringunit 371, and the request acquiring unit 371 supplies the selectionsignal to the function determining unit 372. The function determiningunit 372 determines the functions of the windowpanes 271 based on theselection signal supplied from the request acquiring unit 371, andsupplies the functional information representing the determined functionto the transparency modifying unit 374 and image modifying unit 375.

In step S157, the display image selecting unit 352 changes the functionsof the windowpanes 271 based on the functions of the windowpanes 271determined in step S156, and the flow proceeds to step S158.

Specifically, the transparency modifying unit 374 of the display imageselecting unit 352 changes the transparency of the windowpanes 271 basedon the functional information from the function determining unit 372,and the image modifying unit 375 reads out an image from the imagestoring unit 376 to change the image to be displayed on the windowpanes271 based on the functional information from the function determiningunit 372.

On the other hand, in step S155, in the event that determination is madethat modification of the functions of the windowpanes 271 is notinstructed, modification of the functions of the windowpanes 271 is notnecessary, so the flow skips step S156 and step S157, and proceeds tostep S158.

In step S158, the control unit 351 determines whether or not theprocessing ends. The control unit 351, for example, in the event thatthe power source of the control device 350 is left on, determines thatthe processing is not to end, and the flow returns to step S151, wherethe above processing is repeated.

On the other hand, in step S158, for example, in the event that thepower source of the control device 350 has been turned off, the controlunit 351 determines that the processing is to end, and the processingends.

Next, description will be made in detail regarding the functionmodification processing of the windowpanes 271 for modifying thefunctions of the windowpanes 271 in step S156 and step S157 in FIG. 47in the display image selecting unit 352, with reference to FIG. 48.

In step S171, the function determining unit 372 acquires the positionalinformation from the control unit 351, and the flow proceeds to stepS172.

In step S172, the function determining unit 372 reads out the functionlist of the windowpanes 271 from the function storing unit 373 inaccordance with the positional information acquired in step S171, andthe flow proceeds to step S173.

In step S173, the function determining unit 372 controls the imagemodifying unit 375 to display the function list read out in step S172 onthe windowpanes 271, and the flow proceeds to step S174.

In step S174, the request acquiring unit 371 determines whether or notthe function of the windowpanes 271 is selected by the user. That is tosay, in step S174, determination is made regarding whether or not theuser views the function list displayed on the windowpanes 271, andselects the desired function by operating the unshown operating unit,and the selection signal representing the selected function is suppliedto the request acquiring unit 371 from the unshown operating unit.

In step S174, in the event that determination is made that the functionof the windowpanes 271 is not selected, the flow waits until thefunction of the windowpanes 271 is selected.

In step S174, in the event that determination is made that the functionof the windowpanes 271 is selected, the request acquiring unit 371supplies the selection signal representing the function selected by theuser to the function determining unit 372, and the flow proceeds to stepS175.

In step S175, the function determining unit 372 determines the functionbased on the selection signal from the request acquiring unit 371, andsupplies the functional information representing the function to thetransparency modifying unit 374 and image modifying unit 375, and theflow proceeds to step S176.

In step S176, the transparency modifying unit 374 changes the degree oftransparency of the windowpanes 271 based on the functional informationsupplied from the function determining unit 372 in step S175, and theflow proceeds to step S177.

For example, the windowpanes 271 are made up of a liquid crystal panel,and the transparency modifying unit 374 changes the transparency usingvoltage to be applied to the liquid crystal panels of the windowpanes271.

In step S177, the image modifying unit 375 changes the image to bedisplayed on the windowpanes 271 based on the functional informationsupplied from the function determining unit 372 in step S175, and theflow proceeds to step S158 in FIG. 47.

Specifically, the image modifying unit 375 reads out an image stored inthe image storing unit 376 to supply this to the windowpanes 271 basedon the functional information.

Note that step S171 through step S175 in FIG. 48 correspond to step S156in FIG. 47, and step S176 and step S177 in FIG. 48 correspond to stepS157 in FIG. 47.

FIG. 49 illustrates an example of the function list to be displayed onthe windowpanes 271, in the event that the positions of the residenceunits 203 are determined as the positions having the window 212-1 orwindow 212-2 on the outside (outer wall) of the residence unit 203(e.g., the positions of the residence unit 203-1 and residence unit203-2 in FIG. 34).

In FIG. 49, the function list is displayed on the windowpanes 271, whichlists nine types of functional information of “make transparent”, “maketranslucent”, “make opaque”, “wallpaper pattern”, “curtain pattern”,“shoji pattern”, “outer scenery (camera image)”, “landscape image”, and“registered image”.

In the event that “make transparent” is selected by the user, thetransparency modifying unit 374 changes the transparency of thewindowpanes 271 to make the windowpanes 271 transparent. Thus, the usercan view the scenery of the outside through the windowpanes 271, andfurther the window 212-1 or window 212-2. That is to say, the user makesthe windowpanes 271 serve as normal windows.

In the event that “make translucent” is selected by the user, thetransparency modifying unit 374 changes the transparency of thewindowpanes 271 to make the windowpanes 271 translucent. Also, in theevent that “make opaque” is selected by the user, the transparencymodifying unit 374 makes the windowpanes 271 opaque. In the event ofmaking the windowpanes 271 translucent, the user can make thewindowpanes 271 serve as frosted glass. Also, in the event of making thewindowpanes 271 opaque, the user can make the windowpanes 271 serve aswalls.

Also, in the event that “wallpaper pattern” is selected by the user, theimage modifying unit 375 reads out a wallpaper pattern stored beforehandfrom the image storing unit 376 to display this on the windowpanes 271.Thus, the user can make the windowpanes 271 serve as walls, and canexperience an atmosphere of wallpaper being on the walls.

In the event that “curtain pattern” is selected by the user, the imagemodifying unit 375 reads out a curtain pattern stored beforehand fromthe image storing unit 376 to display this on the windowpanes 271, or inthe event that “shoji pattern” is selected by the user, the imagemodifying unit 375 reads out a shoji pattern stored beforehand from theimage storing unit 376 to display this on the windowpanes 271. Thus, theuser can make the windowpanes 271 serve as windows, and can covercurtain over a window or can experience an atmosphere such that shoji isattached thereto.

Further, in the event that “outer scenery (camera image)” is selected bythe user, the image modifying unit 375 reads out the outer scenery ofthe house 201 supplied from the video camera 353 and stored in the imagestoring unit 376 to display this on the windowpanes 271. Thus, the usercan make the windowpanes 271 serve as windows which project the sceneryof the outside of the house 201.

Note that in the event that the image modifying unit 375 displays theimages (scenery of the outside of the house 201) supplied from the videocamera 353 on the windowpanes 271 in real time, the user can view thesame scenery on the windowpanes 271 as the case of making thewindowpanes 271 transparent. Also, for example, in the event that thescenery of the outside of the house 201 on a sunny day supplied from thevideo camera 353 is stored in the image storing unit 376, and the imagemodifying unit 375 reads out the image from the image storing unit 376to display this on the windowpanes 271 on a rainy or cloudy day, theuser can experience the atmosphere of a sunny day even on a rainy orcloudy day.

Also, in the event that “landscape image” is selected by the user, theimage modifying unit 375 reads out a landscape image stored beforehandfrom the image storing unit 376 to display this on the windowpanes 271,or in the event that “registered image” is selected by the user, theimage modifying unit 375 reads out a registered image registeredbeforehand be the user from the image storing unit 376 to display thison the windowpanes 271. Thus, the user makes the windowpanes 271 serveas virtual windows or posters, and can project various images such as alandscape image and a registered image.

As described above, the image modifying unit 375 displays various imageson the windowpanes 271, thereby providing visual impressions as if awindow, curtain, shoji, or the like existed on the windowpanes 271, tothe user. That is to say, the image modifying unit 375 can visuallychange the configuration of the residence units 203.

Note that with the above description, an arrangement has been madewherein one function can be selected by the user, but a functionrealized by changing the transparency of the windowpanes 271 (“maketransparent”, “make translucent”, or “make opaque”), and a functionrealized by changing the image to be displayed on the windowpanes 271can be simultaneously selected.

For example, in the event that “make transparent” and “landscape image”are selected by the user, the transparency modifying unit 374 changesthe transparency of the windowpanes 271 to make the windowpanes 271transparent, and also the image modifying unit 375 reads out a landscapeimage stored beforehand from the image storing unit 376 to display thison the windowpanes 271. Thus, the user makes the windowpanes 271 serveas virtual windows, and can experience an atmosphere of viewing borrowedlandscape.

FIG. 50 illustrates an example of the function list to be displayed onthe windowpanes 271, in the event that the positions of the residenceunits 203 are determined as the positions without windows on the outside(outer wall) of the residence units 203 (e.g., the first floor in FIG.34).

In FIG. 50, the positions of the residence units 203 are determined asthe positions without windows on the outside (outer wall) of theresidence units 203 (e.g., the first floor in FIG. 34), so even if thedegree of transparency of the windowpanes 271 are modified, the outerwall exists, so the outer wall is projected on the windowpanes 271,which provides the same situation as in the case of being opaque.Accordingly, three types of functional information of “maketransparent”, “make translucent”, and “make opaque” in the function listdisplayed on the windowpanes 271 in FIG. 49 are not displayed in FIG.50, but instead, three types of functional information of “vase”,“painting”, and “bookshelf” are displayed on the function list. Thus,depending on the positions of the residence units 203, the functionalinformation to be displayed on the function list, and consequently, thefunctions of the windowpanes 271 are changed, and also images which canbe displayed on the windowpanes 271 are changed.

That is to say, in FIG. 50, the function list is displayed on thewindowpanes 271, which lists nine types of functional information of“wallpaper pattern”, “curtain pattern”, “shoji pattern”, “outer scenery(camera image)”, “landscape image”, “vase”, “painting”, “bookshelfimage”, and “registered image”.

Note that “wallpaper pattern”, “curtain pattern”, “shoji pattern”,“outer scenery (camera image)”, and “landscape image” are the same asthose in FIG. 49, so redundant description will be omitted.

In the event that “vase” is selected by the user, the image modifyingunit 375 reads out a vase image stored beforehand from the image storingunit 376 to display this on the windowpanes 271. Thus, the user can makethe windowpanes 271 serve as walls, and can experience an atmospheresuch that a vase is decorated on the wall side.

In the event that “painting” is selected by the user, the imagemodifying unit 375 reads out a painting image stored beforehand from theimage storing unit 376 to display this on the windowpanes 271, or in theevent that “bookshelf image” is selected by the user, the imagemodifying unit 375 reads out a bookshelf image stored beforehand fromthe image storing unit 376 to display this on the windowpanes 271. Thus,the user can make the windowpanes 271 serve as walls, and can experiencean atmosphere of a painting being decorated on the wall, or a bookshelfbeing placed there.

FIG. 51A and FIG. 51B illustrate examples of the function list of thewindowpane 271-1 displayed on the windowpane 271-1 of the wall 401-1 ofthe residence unit 203-1. Here, the wall 401-1 is a wall in which thewindowpane 271-1 is provided, of the walls making up the residence unit203-1.

Note that in the case of the examples of FIG. 51A and FIG. 51B, let ussay that the residence unit 203-1 is disposed in the position where thewindowpane 212-1 exists in the outer wall.

Also, in FIG. 51A and FIG. 51B, description will be made regarding thewindowpane 271-1 of the wall 401-1 of the residence unit 203-1, but thesame processing is performed regarding the windowpane 271-2 throughwindowpane 271-6 of the residence unit 203-2 through residence unit203-6 as well.

FIG. 51A illustrates an example in which the function of the windowpane271-1 is determined as transparent. As shown in FIG. 51A, of the wall401-1, the windowpane 271-1 provided in the center of the drawing ismade transparent.

When the windowpane 271-1 is made transparent as shown in FIG. 51A, uponmodification of the function of the windowpane 271-1 being requested bythe user, the function determining unit 372 reads out the function listfrom the function storing unit 373 in accordance with the positionalinformation supplied from the control unit 351 to display this on thewindowpane 271-1 as shown in FIG. 51B. In the case of the examples ofFIG. 51A and FIG. 51B, the residence unit 203-1 is assumed in theposition where the window 212-1 exists in the outer wall, so thefunction list to be displayed on the windowpane 271-1 includesfunctional information relating to modification of transparency. That isto say, in FIG. 51B, the function list is displayed on the windowpane271-1, which lists eleven types of functional information of “maketransparent”, “make translucent”, “make opaque”, “wallpaper pattern”,“curtain pattern”, “shoji pattern”, “outer scenery (camera image)”,“landscape image”, “vase”, “painting”, and “registered image”.

FIG. 52 illustrates an example in which the user views the windowpane271-1 on which the function list of FIG. 51B is displayed, selects thedesired function, and the function of the windowpane 271-1 is modifiedin accordance with the selected function.

FIG. 52 illustrates the windowpane 271-1 when the user views thewindowpane 271-1 on which the function list of FIG. 51B is displayed,and selects, for example, “landscape image” using a cursor or the like.

As shown in FIG. 52, of the wall 401-1, on the windowpane 271-1 providedin the center of the drawing, a landscape image stored beforehand in theimage storing unit 376, and for example, a mountain image is displayed.That is to say, the function determining unit 372 determines thefunction of the windowpane 271-1 as the function representing functionalinformation “landscape image”, and supplies the functional informationrepresenting the determined function to the image modifying unit 375.The image modifying unit 375 reads out a mountain image serving as alandscape image stored beforehand from the image storing unit 376 todisplay the mountain image on the windowpane 271-1, based on thefunctional information from the function determining unit 372.

Note that with the above description, an arrangement has been madewherein the functions of the windowpanes 271 are determined according tothe functional information which the user selects from the functionlist, but an arrangement may be made wherein the function determiningunit 372 automatically selects a function. For example, the functiondetermining unit 372 determines the functions of the windowpane 271-3through windowpane 271-6 of the residence unit 203-3 through residenceunit 203-6, which are not in the positions where the window 212-1 orwindow 212-2 is installed in FIG. 35, as “outer scenery (camera image)”,whereby the outer scenery of the house 201 which filmed by the videocamera 353 can be displayed on the windowpane 271-3 through windowpane271-6. Thus, the user can experience an atmosphere in which a window isinstalled in the residence unit 203-3 through residence unit 203-6.Also, the function determining unit 372 determines the functions of thewindowpane 271-1 and windowpane 271-2 of the residence unit 203-1 andresidence unit 203-2, which are in the positions where the window 212-1or window 212-2 is installed in FIG. 35, as “outer scenery (cameraimage)”, whereby the outer scenery of the house 201 which has beenfilmed by the video camera 353 on a sunny day and stored in the imagestoring unit 376 can be displayed on the windowpane 271-1 and windowpane271-2. Thus, the user can experience the atmosphere of fine weather evenon a rainy or cloudy day.

Next, the series of processing mentioned above in FIG. 34 through FIG.52 can be executed using dedicated hardware, and also can be executedusing software. In the event of executing a series of processing usingsoftware, a program making up the software is installed in ageneral-purpose computer or the like.

To this end, FIG. 53 illustrates a configuration example of oneembodiment of a computer in which a program for executing a series ofprocessing mentioned above is installed.

The program can be stored beforehand in the hard disk 505 or ROM 503serving as a recording medium built into the computer.

Or, the program may be temporarily or eternally stored (recorded) in theremovable recording medium 511 such as a flexible disk, CD-ROM (CompactDisc Read Only Memory), MO (Magneto optical) disk, DVD (DigitalVersatile Disc), magnetic disk, and semiconductor memory. Such removablerecording medium 511 can be provided as so-called packaged software.

Note that in addition to being installed into the computer from such aremovable recording medium 511, the program can be wirelesslytransferred to the computer from a download site via the earth satellitefor digital satellite broadcasting, or can be cable-transferred to thecomputer via a network such as a LAN (Local Area Network) or theInternet, and the computer side receives the program thus transferred atthe communication unit 508, and can install this in the built-in harddisk 505.

The computer has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 502 built in. The CPU502 is connected with the input/output interface 510 via the bus 501,and upon the user inputting instructions by operating the input unit 507made up of a keyboard, mouse, microphone and so forth, via theinput/output interface 510, the CPU 502 executes the program stored inthe ROM (Read Only Memory) 503 in accordance with the instructions. Or,also, the CPU 502 loads the program stored in the hard disk 505, theprogram transferred from the satellite or a network, received at thecommunication unit 508, and installed in the hard disk 505, or theprogram read out from the removable recording medium 511 mounted in thedrive 509, and installed in the hard disk 505, into the RAM (RandomAccess Memory) 504, and executes it. Thus, the CPU 502 performs theprocessing in accordance with the above flowchart, or the processingperformed with the configuration of the above block diagram.Subsequently, the CPU 502 outputs the processing results from the outputunit 506 made up of an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), speaker, and soforth via the input/output interface 510, or transmits the processingresults from the communication unit 508, and further stores them in thehard disk 505, or the like, for example, as necessary.

Note that with the above description, the control system has realizedoptimization of the house 201 by changing the positions of the residenceunits (rooms) or the functions of the windows, but optimization of thehouse 201 can be also realized by changing the other facilities, i.e.,for example, the magnitude (consequently, the number of stages) of thelevel difference of the stairs 231 depending on a person's activitysituations (physical condition is poor, good, etc.) or a person. Also,in addition to the stairs 231, optimization of the house 201 can beachieved by further changing the other facilities as appropriate, suchas the height of the threshold and the position of an umbrella stand ora shoebox which are provided in the house 201.

Also, the number of the residence units 203 is not restricted to six,and any number may be used.

Further, with the above description, an arrangement has been madewherein the six residence units 203 are moved together, but in addition,an arrangement may be made wherein every four of the lower portion orthe upper portion of the residence units 203 are moved together.

Also, an arrangement has been made wherein the transparency of thewindowpanes 271 is selected from transparent, translucent, and opaque,but an arrangement may be made wherein the user sets arbitrarytransparency.

Further, with the above description, an arrangement has been madewherein digital broadcasting is received at the broadcasting informationextracting unit 311 from the unshown antenna, but in addition, anarrangement may be made wherein a teletext or the like is received.

Also, the way to move the residence units 203 is not restricted to thatlike an automated parking tower. That is to say, for example, amechanism may be employed wherein space capable of accommodating atleast one of the residence units 203 is provided underground, and theresidence unit 203-1 through residence unit 203-6 can be moved topositions of arbitrary spatial relationship.

Further, with the above description, an arrangement has been madewherein the image modifying unit 375 is made up of a projector, and animage is displayed by casting light, but an arrangement may be madewherein the image modifying unit 375 is made up of a driver for drivinga liquid crystal panel making up the windowpanes 271.

Also, an arrangement may be made wherein the windowpanes 271 is made upof a device other than a liquid crystal panel that is capable of controlof transparency and display of an image.

As described above, an arrangement has been made wherein with thecontrol device 290, the information acquiring unit 291 acquires statusinformation, the unit-position determining unit 292 changes thepositions of the residence units 203 of the house 201 serving as abuilding based on the status information, thereby realizing intelligentactive integration between electronic apparatuses and a house.

Further, an arrangement has been made wherein with the control device350, the display image selecting unit 352 changes the image to bedisplayed on the windowpanes 271 depending on the positions of theresidence units 203, whereby the user can live more comfortably withinthe house 201.

Fourth Embodiment

FIG. 54 illustrates a configuration example of a residence system (theterm system means what is obtained by two or more objects being gatheredlogically regardless of each component object thereof being in the samecase) to which the present invention is applied, serving as a fourthembodiment.

The residence system in FIG. 54 receives a broadcasting signal such as aprogram or the like transmitted from a broadcasting station as airwaves.A user who is a resident of the residence system views and listens to aprogram obtained from the broadcasting signal in a room (not shown)within the building.

Now, let us say that the number of users serving as residents of theresidence system in FIG. 54 is five, for example. Let us say that thefive users are a user A, user B, user C, user D, and user E.

FIG. 55 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of areceiving device 601 to be installed within the building of theresidence system in FIG. 54.

The broadcasting signal of the digital broadcasting received at anunshown antenna is supplied to a tuner 611. The broadcasting signal ofthis digital broadcasting is digital data stipulated with the MPEG(Moving Picture Experts Group)-2 or the like, and is transmitted as atransport stream made up of multiple TS (Transport Stream) packets.Under control of a controller 631, the tuner 611 selects thebroadcasting signal of a predetermined channel (frequency) from thebroadcasting signals of multiple channels supplied from the antenna, andsupplies the broadcasting signal of the selected channel to ademodulation unit 612.

Later-described memory 636 stores the five users A through E, and theirpreferred program genres in an associated manner as user's tasteinformation. Also, the memory 636 also stores the order of priorities ofgenres. The controller 631 controls the tuner 611 so as to select achannel which is broadcasting a user's preferred genre program withreference to the user's taste information stored in the memory 636.Accordingly, the tuner 611 selects a broadcasting signal of apredetermined channel from the broadcasting signals of the multiplechannels supplied from the antenna based on the user's taste informationstored in the memory 636.

Also, in the event that multiple programs having a user's favoritedifferent genre are broadcasting at the same time, the controller 631controls the tuner 611 so as to select the channel which is broadcastingthe program of a genre with a high priority based on the priories ofgenres stored in the memory 636.

Note that the controller 631 can tell the channel and program which isbroadcasting a user's favorite genre, for example, by using an EPG(Electronic Program Guide) or the like.

The demodulation unit 612 demodulates the transport stream of thebroadcasting signal of a predetermined channel supplied from the tuner611 using, for example, QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying) modulationor the like, based on the control by the controller 631, and suppliesthe transport stream obtained with the modulation to an error-correctionprocessing unit 613.

The error-correction processing unit 613, under control of thecontroller 631, detects an error from the transport stream supplied fromthe demodulation unit 612, and corrects this. Subsequently, thetransport stream following the correction processing is supplied to ademultiplexer 614.

The demultiplexer 614, under control of the controller 631, subjects thetransport stream supplied from the error-correction processing unit 613to descrambling processing as necessary. Also, the demultiplexer 614,under control of the controller 631, extracts the TS packets of a user'sfavorite genre program from the transport stream supplied from theerror-correction processing unit 613 with reference to the PID (PacketIdentifier) of each of the TS packets.

Subsequently, of the TS packets of the user's favorite genre program,the demultiplexer 614 supplies the video data thereof to a video decoder615, and supplies the audio data thereof to an audio decoder 616,respectively.

The video decoder 615 decodes the video data supplied from thedemultiplexer 614 using the MPEG-2 method, and supplies this to a DRC(Digital Reality Creation) unit 617 and a synthesizing unit 618.

The audio decoder 616 decodes the audio data supplied from thedemultiplexer 614 using the MPEG-2 method, and supplies this to aselector 621.

Let us say that the image signal (video data) which the video decoder615 outputs is a first image signal, and the DRC unit 617 transforms thefirst image signal into a high-quality image signal (video data) servingas a second image signal. Subsequently, the DRC unit 617 supplies(outputs) the high-quality image signal (video data) to the synthesizingunit 618. Note that hereinafter, let us say that a high-quality imagesignal (video data) represents a high-quality image signal obtained byimproving the resolution of an image signal.

In the event that video data is supplied from the DRC unit 617, thesynthesizing unit 618 selects the video data. On the other hand, in theevent that video data is not supplied from the DRC unit 617, thesynthesizing unit 618 selects video data supplied from the video decoder615. Also, the synthesizing unit 618 superimposes the video datasupplied from an OSD (On Screen Display) unit 619 on the video data onthe selected side, of the video data supplied from the video decoder 615or DRC unit 617, and supplies this to a selector 620. Note that in theevent that video data is not supplied from the OSD unit 619, of thevideo data supplied from the video decoder 615 or DRC unit 617, thesynthesizing unit 618 supplies the selected one to the selector 620without any modification.

The OSD unit 619, under control of the controller 631, for example,generates video data such as the number and volume of the currentselected channel, and supplies this to the synthesizing unit 618.

The selector 620, under control of the controller 631, selects a displayfor outputting the video data supplied from the synthesizing unit 618from displays 622-1 through 622-5. Subsequently, the selector 620supplies the video data supplied from the synthesizing unit 618 to anyselected one of the displays 622-1 through 622-5. Also, the selector 620can select multiple ones from the displays 622-1 through 622-5, andsupply video data to the selected multiple displays.

The displays 622-1 through 622-5 are installed in rooms #1 through #5provided in the residence system in FIG. 54. Each of the displays 622-1through 622-5, upon the video data being supplied from the selector 620,transforms the video data into video data of the NTSC (NationalTelevision System Committee) method, and displays an image obtained as aresult. Note that hereinafter, in the event that the displays 622-1through 622-5 in particular do not need to be distinguished, these arereferred to as displays 622.

Here, as for the displays 622, a flat display panel such as an LCD(Liquid Crystal Display) or PDP (Plasma Display Panel) can be employed,for example. In this case, the displays 622 can be installed integrallywith walls so as to be embedded in the walls of the rooms of theresidence system in FIG. 54. Also, in addition to this, as for thedisplays 622, such as a projector which uses one or more walls of theroom as a screen is employable.

The selector 621, under control of the controller 631, selects a speakerfor outputting the audio data supplied from the audio decoder 616 fromspeakers 623-1 through 623-5. Subsequently, the selector 621 suppliesthe audio data supplied from the audio decoder 616 to any selected oneof the speakers 623-1 through 623-5. Also, the selector 621 can selectmultiple ones from the speakers 623-1 through 623-5, and supply audiodata to the selected multiple speakers.

The speakers 623-1 through 623-5 are installed in the rooms #1 through#5 provided in the residence system in FIG. 54, respectively. Therespective speakers 623-1 through 623-5, upon audio data being suppliedfrom the selector 621, subjects the audio data to analog transformationto output this as voice. Note that hereinafter, in the event that thespeakers 623-1 through 623-5 in particular do not need to bedistinguished, these will be referred to as speakers 623.

Here, the speakers 623 can be installed so as to be integrated with theabove displays 622, or so as to be embedded independently in the wall orfloor of the room of the residence system in FIG. 54.

The controller 631 performs various processing in accordance with theprogram stored in the memory 636, and thus, controls, for example, thetuner 611, demodulating unit 612, error-correction processing unit 613,demultiplexer 614, video decoder 615, audio decoder 616, DRC unit 617,OSD unit 619, selector 620, and selector 621. Also, the controller 631executes various processing based on the operating signal correspondingto a user operation supplied from the key-input unit 632 orremote-control I/F 634.

For example, the controller 631 controls the tuner 611 so as to select achannel which is broadcasting a user's preferred genre program based onthe user's taste information stored in the memory 636, as describedabove. Also, when later-described sensors 637-1 through 637-5 detectthat the users are in the rooms #1 through #5, the controller 631controls the selectors 620 and 621 so as to select the display 622 andspeaker 623 which are installed in the rooms #1 through #5.

Also, the controller 631 is connected with cameras 721-1 through 721-5installed in each room of the rooms #1 through #5, and movie projectors722-1 through 722-5 installed in each room of the rooms #1 through #5.Note that hereinafter, in the event that the cameras 721-1 through 721-5in particular do not need to be distinguished, these are referred to ascameras 721. Similarly, in the event that the movie projectors 122-1through 122-5 in particular do not need to be distinguished, these arereferred to as movie projectors 722.

The controller 631 controls the cameras 721-1 through 721-5 to capturethe situations within the rooms #1 through #5, or the users A through Epresent within the rooms #1 through #5 as necessary. Subsequently, thecontroller 631 controls the memory 636 to temporarily record (store) thecapturing signals output by the cameras 721. Further, the controller 631supplies the capturing signals temporarily recorded in the memory 636 tothe movie projectors 722 from the memory 636.

Further, the controller 631 may detect whether or not the users are inthe rooms by processing the capturing signals output by the cameras 721.In this case, with the receiving device 601 in FIG. 55, the sensors637-1 through 637-5 can be omitted.

The key-input unit 632 is, for example, made up of switch buttons or thelike, receives an operation and the like when the user selects thedesired channel, and supplies the operating signal corresponding to theuser operation to the controller 631. A display unit 633, based on thecontrol signal supplied from the controller 631, displays a processingstate in which the receiving device 601 performs processing, or thelike, for example. For example, the display unit 633 displays thechannel selected by the tuner 611, or the like.

The remote-control I/F (Interface) 634 supplies the operating signalcorresponding to a user operation supplied from a photo-receiving unit635 to the controller 631. The photo-receiving unit 635 receives theoperating signal corresponding to a user operation transmitted from aremote commander (not shown), and supplies this to the remote-controlI/F 634.

The memory 636 is, for example, made up of a hard disk, semiconductormemory, or the like, and stores a program, data, and so forth for thecontroller 631 executing various processing. This program for thecontroller 631 executing various processing is stored in a recordingmedium such as a magnetic disk (including floppy), optical disc(including CD-ROM (Compact Disk-Read Only Memory) and DVD (DigitalVersatile Disk)), magneto-optical disk (including MD (Mini-Disk)), orsemiconductor memory, and is installed in the memory 636 via therecording medium or a network such as the Internet.

Also, the memory 636 stores the five users A through E, and theirpreferred program genres in an associated manner as user's tasteinformation, as described above. Also, the memory 636 also stores theorder of priorities of genres.

Further, the memory 636 stores the correlation between the five users Athrough E, rooms #1 through #5, displays 622-1 through 622-5, speakers623-1 through 623-5, and sensors 637-1 through 637-5. That is to say,the memory 636 also stores information of, for example, which room theuser A's room is, and which displays 622-1 through 622-5, speakers 623-1through 623-5, and sensors 637-1 through 637-5 are installed in thatroom.

Note that description will be made later regarding the details ofstorage content (data) such as user's taste information stored in thememory 636 with reference to FIG. 56.

The sensors 637-1 through 637-5 are installed in the rooms #1 through #5respectively, and detect whether or not the users are within the rooms#1 through #5. Subsequently, the sensors 637-1 through 637-5, upondetecting that the users are within the rooms #1 through #5, supplies adetection signal to the effect that that the users presence within therooms has been detected (represents that the users are present withinthe rooms), to the controller 631. As described later with reference toFIG. 56, the memory 636 stores the users A through E and the rooms #1through #5 in an associated manner, the controller 631 can recognize inwhich of the user's rooms the users (persons) are present, of the usersA through E, based on the detection signals supplied from the sensors637-1 through 637-5, the correlation between the users A through E,sensors 637-1 through 637-5, and rooms #1 through #5 stored in thememory 636. Here, as for the sensors 637-1 through 637-5, temperaturesensors, infrared sensors, ultrasonic sensors, or the like may beemployed, for example. Note that hereinafter, in the event that thesensors 637-1 through 637-5 in particular do not need to bedistinguished, these will be referred to as sensors 637.

The cameras 721-1 through 721-5 are installed in the rooms #1 through#5, respectively. The cameras 721-1 through 721-5, under control of thecontroller 631, capture the situations within the rooms #1 through #5,or the users A through E present within the rooms #1 through #5,respectively. Also, the camera 721-1 through 721-5, under control of thecontroller 631, capture viewing/listening situations in which the usersA through E view and listen to the program output from the display 622and speaker 623 within the rooms #1 through #5, respectively. The imagesignals captured by the cameras 721 (hereinafter, referred to ascapturing signals) are supplied to the movie projectors 722 via thememory 636 (following being recorded in the memory 636 temporarily).

The movie projectors 722-1 through 722-5 are installed in the rooms #1through #5, respectively. The movie projectors 722-1 through 722-5,under control of the controller 631, project an image obtained from thecapturing signals which the memory 636 outputs on the rooms #1 through#5, respectively. Accordingly, the movie projectors 722-1 through 722-5,under control of the controller 631, project (display) the image ofviewing/listening situations in which the users in the other rooms areviewing/listening to a program on the walls or floors of the rooms #1through #5, respectively.

Thus, the feeling of viewing/listening to a program together with theusers of the other rooms can be provided to the user who isviewing/listening to the desired genre program within the user's room insolitude. Projecting the viewing/listening situation of such a user ofthe other rooms who is viewing/listening to the same program in theuser's room is referred to as a sensation mode here.

The user can turn off the sensation mode, in the event that the userdoes not want to show the users within the other rooms the his/her ownviewing/listening situation, or in the event that the user does not wantto display the other users' viewing/listening situations on the wall ofhis/her own room. In this case, the key-input unit 632 and unshownremote control are provided with an operating button for turning on/offthe sensation mode, for example. Subsequently, the operating signalcorresponding to the user operation for turning on/off the sensationmode is supplied from the key-input unit 632 or remote-control I/F 634to the controller 631. The controller 631 controls a predetermined blockin accordance with the operating signal corresponding to the useroperation for turning on/off the sensation mode.

Also, the controller 631 stores the on/off state of the sensation modeoperated immediately before. Subsequently, based on the on/off state ofthe sensation mode, in the event that the sensation mode is off, thecontroller 631 prevents the cameras 721 installed in the respectiverooms from capturing the users' viewing/listening situations bycontrolling the cameras 721. Also, in the event that the sensation modeis off, the controller 631 can prevent the movie projectors 722 fromprojecting the users' viewing/listening of the other rooms captured bythe cameras 721 by controlling the movie projectors 722 installed in therespective rooms. On the other hand, in the event that the sensationmode is on, the controller 631 controls the cameras 721 installed in therespective rooms to capture the users' viewing/listening situations.Further, the controller 631 controls the movie projectors 722 to projectthe image of the captured users' viewing/listening situations on thewall or floor of the room, which is a different room from the room inwhich the user's viewing/listening situation is captured, of the userwho is viewing/listening to the same program.

Here, the movie projectors 722 can be made up of a projector and soforth, for example. Also, instead of the movie projectors 722, anarrangement may be made wherein for example, a flat display panel suchas an LCD or PDP is embedded in the wall or floor of the users' rooms,and the controller 631 displays the image of viewing/listeningsituations in which the users in the other rooms are viewing/listeningto a program on the embedded LCD and PDP screens.

The receiving device 601 thus configured outputs an image and voiceserving as a digital broadcasting program from the displays 622-1through 622-5 and speakers 623-1 through 623-5 of the rooms #1 through#5 where the users A through E are as follows.

Specifically, the controller 631 detects the desired (favorite) genreprogram of the user. The tuner 611 selects the broadcasting signal ofthe channel of the user's desired (favorite) genre program from thetransport stream serving as the broadcasting signal of the digitalbroadcasting received at the antenna. Subsequently, the sensors 637-1through 637-5 detect whether or not the users A through E who registeredthe program of the genre detected by the controller 631 as theirfavorite genre are in their rooms.

In the event that detection is made that the users A through E whoregistered the program of the genre detected by the controller 631 astheir favorite genre are in their rooms, the transport stream of theprogram detected by the controller 631 is supplied to the demultiplexer614 via the demodulating unit 612 and error-correction processing unit613.

Of the TS packets of the user's favorite genre program, thedemultiplexer 614 supplies the video data thereof to the video decoder615, and supplies the audio data thereof to the audio decoder 616,respectively.

The video decoder 615 MPEG-decodes the video data of the TS packetssupplied from the demultiplexer 614, and the DRC unit 617 transforms thevideo data obtained as a result into the video data of a high-qualityimage, and supplies this to the selector 620.

Also, the audio decoder 616 MPEG-decodes the audio data of the TSpackets supplied from the demultiplexer 614, and supplies the audio dataobtained as a result to the selector 621.

The selectors 620 and 621 select, of the displays 622-1 through 622-5and speakers 623-1 through 623-5 installed in the rooms #1 through #5,the displays and speakers corresponding to the rooms #1 through #5, inwhich the users A through E, who have stored the program genre detectedby the controller 631 in the memory 636 as their favorite genre, aredetected to be present.

Accordingly, in the event that the user who likes the received programas his/her favorite genre program is in his/her room, the images andvoice of the program are output to the displays 622-1 through 622-5 andthe speakers 623-1 through 623-5 of his/her room. Here, in the eventthat of the users A through E, the two or more users who like thereceived program as their favorite genre program are present, the imagesand voice of the program are output to the displays and speakers of allof their rooms.

Further, with the receiving device 601 in FIG. 55, in the event that thetwo or more users who want the program genre detected by the tuner 611are present, the cameras 721 installed in each of the users' roomscapture the viewing/listening situations of the users who areviewing/listening to the program of the digital broadcasting output fromthe displays 622 and speakers 623. Subsequently, the capturing signal issupplied to the movie projectors 722 installed in the rooms of the otherusers who are viewing/listening to the same program. Accordingly, theviewing/listening situations of the users who are viewing/listening tothe same program other than themselves are displayed (projected) on thewall of the room.

For example, in the event that determination is made that the users Aand B who desire the program genre (e.g., soccer) detected by the tuner611 are present in their rooms #1 and #2, the camera 721-1 installed inthe room #1 captures the viewing/listening situation of the program ofthe user A, and the camera 721-2 installed in the room #2 captures theviewing/listening situation of the program of the user B. Subsequently,the movie projector 722-1 installed in the room #1 projects theviewing/listening situation of the user B who is viewing/listening tothe program, which was captured by the camera 721-2 installed in theroom #2, in the room #1. Similarly, the movie projector 722-2 installedin the room #2 projects the viewing/listening situation of the user Awho is viewing/listening to the program, which was captured by thecamera 721-1 installed in the room #1, in the room #2.

Also, the controller 631 controls whether or not the viewing/listeningsituation of the user of an arbitrary room, which is captured by thecameras 721, is displayed in the other rooms. For example, in the eventthat the program detected by the tuner 611 is a movie program, the userusually wants to watch it alone in many cases. In such a case, even inthe event that another user is viewing/listening to the same movieprogram, the user turns off the sensation mode. Thus, the controller 631controls the movie projectors 722 so as not to display theviewing/listening situation of the user who is viewing/listening to thesame movie program in another room. Accordingly, the user can watch themovie program alone.

FIG. 56 illustrates data relating to the users A through E stored in thememory 636 in FIG. 55.

The memory 636 in FIG. 56 stores the taste information representing whatkind of genre of a program each of the five users A through E likes, andthe priorities of genres are stored (registered).

As shown in the table on the left side in FIG. 56, examples of thegenres of programs stored in the memory 636 include sports in general,soccer, MLB, animation, news in general, and drama. With the presentexample, let us say that the genres of programs represent six genres ofsports in general, soccer, MLB, animation, news in general, and drama.

Also, as for the users who like the genre of sports in general, theusers A, B, and C are registered. Further, as for the users who likesoccer, the users A and B are registered. Similarly, as for the userswho like MLB, animation, news in general, and drama, the users A and C,users D and E, users D, and users C and E are registered, respectively.

Also, as for the priorities of each genre, news in general is registeredin the priority of the 1st place, and soccer is registered in thepriority of the 2nd place. Hereinafter, in the same way, MLB, sports ingeneral, animation, and drama are sequentially registered in thepriorities of the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th places.

Accordingly, in the event that the program of the genre of sports ingeneral, soccer, MLB, animation, news in general, or drama is detectedby the tuner 611, the controller 631 can determine (recognize) who theuser who likes the genre is by referring to the data of the table on theleft side of FIG. 56.

Also, in the event that two or more programs having a user's favoritedifferent genre are broadcasting at the same time, the controller 631can control the tuner 611 to select a program of which genre is a higherpriority by referring to the data of the table on the left side in FIG.56.

Also, as shown in the table on the right side in FIG. 56, the memory 636in FIG. 55 stores the rooms #1 through #5, the displays 622-1 through622-5 (displays #1 through #5), and the speakers 623-1 through 623-5 (SP#1 through #5), which are associated with the users A through E.

That is to say, the memory 636 stores that the user A's room is the room#1, and the displays and speakers installed in the room #1 are thedisplay 622-1 and speaker 623-1. Also, the memory 636 stores that theuser B's room is the room #2, and the displays and speakers installed inthe room #2 are the display 622-2 and speaker 623-2. Similarly,regarding the users C through E, the memory 636 also stores that therooms of the users C through E are the rooms #3 through #5 respectively,and the displays and speakers installed in the rooms #3 through #5 arethe displays 622-3 through 622-5 and the speakers 623-3 through 623-5respectively.

Also, as shown in the table on the right side in FIG. 56, the memory 636in FIG. 55 stores the rooms #1 through #5, and the sensors 637-1 through637-5 (sensors #1 through #5) which are associated with the users Athrough E.

That is to say, the memory 636 stores that the sensor installed in theuser A's room #1 is the sensor 637-1. Also, the memory 636 stores thatthe sensor installed in the user B's room #2 is the sensor 637-2.Similarly, regarding the users C through E as well, the memory 636stores that the sensors installed in the rooms #3 through #5 of theusers C through E are the sensors 637-3 through 637-5, respectively.

Accordingly, in the event that the user who regards the program detectedby the tuner 611 as a favorite genre is determined with the data of thetable on the left side in FIG. 56, the controller 631 can recognizewhich room the user's room is, and which sensor sends a detection signalrepresenting whether or not the user, who regards the program detectedby the tuner 611 as a favorite genre, is in his/her room, by referringto the data of the table on the right side in FIG. 56. Also, thecontroller 631 can recognize the display 622 and speaker 623 installedin the room. Accordingly, the controller 631 can recognize which display622 and speaker 623 should be made to select by controlling theselectors 620 and 621.

Next, description will be made regarding program output processing inwhich the receiving device 601 in FIG. 55 outputs the images and voiceof the program of the desired genre to the display and speaker in theroom where a user is, with reference to FIG. 57. This processing isalways performed, while the power supply of the receiving device 601 isturned on.

First, in step S201, the controller 631 determines whether or not theprogram corresponding to the desired (favorite) genres of the users Athrough E stored in the memory 636 has been detected from thebroadcasting signals of the digital broadcasting input to the tuner 611from the antenna, such as described with reference to FIG. 56.Subsequently, the processing in step S201 is repeated until the programcorresponding to the desired (favorite) genres of the users A through Eis detected.

In step S201, in the event that determination is made that the programcorresponding to the desired (favorite) genres of the users A through Ehave been detected, the flow proceeds to step S202, where the controller631 determines whether or not the user who desires the genre of theprogram detected in step S201 is in his/her room. That is to say, thecontroller 631 first determines regarding who the user desires the genreof the program detected in step S201 is with reference to the data ofthe table on the left side in FIG. 56 stored in the memory 636. Next,the controller 631 recognizes the room of the user who desires the genreof the program detected in step S201, and the sensor sensing the roomwith reference to the data of the table on the right side in FIG. 56stored in the memory 636. Subsequently, the controller 631 determineswhether or not from the sensor 637 installed in the room of the user whodesires the genre of the program detected in step S201 a detectionsignal representing that the user is in the room has been received.Here, in the event that two or more users who desire the genre of theprogram detected in step S201 are present, determination is maderegarding all of the users' rooms, whether or not the users are present.

In step S202, in the event that determination is made that no users arein the rooms of the users who desire the genre of the program detectedin step S201, i.e., in the event that the controller 631 has notreceived detection signals detecting that the users are in the rooms,from the sensors 637 installed in the rooms #1 through #5 of the users Athrough E who desire the genre of the program detected in step S201, theflow returns to step S201.

On the other hand, in the event that determination is made that at leastone user is in the rooms of the users who desire the genre of theprogram detected in step S201, i.e., in the event that the controller631 has received a detection signal detecting that the user is in theroom, from at least one of the sensors 637-1 through 637-5 installed inthe rooms of the users who desire the genre of the program detected instep S201, the flow proceeds to step S203.

In step S203, the transport stream of the program detected by the tuner611 is supplied to the demultiplexer 614 via the demodulating unit 612and error-correction processing unit 613. Subsequently, of the TSpackets of the user's favorite genre program, the demultiplexer 614supplies the video data thereof to the video decoder 615, and suppliesthe audio data thereof to the audio decoder 616, respectively.

The video decoder 615 MPEG-decodes the video data of the TS packets fromthe demultiplexer 614 to supply this to the DRC unit 617.

Also, the audio decoder 616 MPEG-decodes the audio data of the TSpackets from the demultiplexer 614 to supply this to the selector 621,and the flow proceeds to step S204 from step S203.

In step S204, the DRC unit 617 takes the MPEG-decoded video data outputby the video decoder 615 as a first image signal, and transforms thefirst image signal into a high-quality (high-image-quality) image signal(second image signal) to supply this to the synthesizing unit 618. Inthe event that the video data to be superimposed is input from the OSDunit 619, the synthesizing unit 618 superimposes the video data whichthe OSD unit 619 outputs on the high-quality image signal supplied fromthe DRC unit 617 to output this to the selector 620. On the other hand,in the event that the video data to be superimposed is not input fromthe OSD unit 619, the synthesizing unit 618 outputs the high-qualityimage signal supplied from the DRC unit 617 to the selector 620 as itis.

The flow proceeds to step S205 from step S204, where of the rooms of theusers who desire the genre of the program detected in step S201, thecontroller 631 controls the selectors 620 and 21 to select the displays622 and speakers 623 of the rooms where the users are present, detectedin step S202. The selector 620 outputs the video data supplied from thesynthesizing unit 618 to the displays 622 selected under control of thecontroller 631. Accordingly, the high-quality image transformed from theimage of the program detected by the tuner 611 is displayed on thedisplays 622 selected by the selector 620.

Also, the selector 621 outputs the audio data supplied from the audiodecoder 16 to the speakers 623 selected under control of the controller631. Accordingly, the voice of the program detected by the tuner 611 isoutput from the speakers 623 selected by the selector 621.

As described above, in steps S201 through S205, in the event that theprogram of the genre which the users desire is detected, detection isperformed regarding whether or not the users who desire the detectedgenre are in their rooms, and the detected program can be output to allof the displays 622 and speakers 623 in the rooms where the users are.

Accordingly, by utilizing the features within the building according tothe contents of the broadcasting signal of the digital broadcastingwhich the receiving device 601 receives, the users can view and listento the contents (program) of the broadcasting signal in a way that isconvenient for themselves, i.e., the users can view and listen to theprograms of their desired genres without performing any operation.

The flow proceeds to step S206 from step S205, where the controller 631determines whether or not the presence of users has been detected in twoor more rooms when determining whether or not the users who desire thegenre of the program detected in step S201 exit in step S202. In stepS206, in the event that determination is made that it has not beendetected that the users are in two or more rooms, i.e., in the eventthat a user is in one room alone in step S202, the flow skips steps S207through S209, and processing ends.

On the other hand, in step S206, in the event that determination is madethat users have been detected in two or more rooms, the flow proceeds tostep S207, where the controller 631 determines whether or not thesensation mode is off. In step S207, in the event that determination ismade that the sensation mode is off, the flow skips steps S208 and S209,and the processing ends.

On the other hand, in step S207, in the event that determination is madethat the sensation mode is not off, the flow proceeds to step S208,where the controller 631 controls the cameras 721 installed in all ofthe rooms determined as the users exiting, to capture theviewing/listening situations of the users who are viewing/listening theprogram detected in step S201. The cameras 721 installed in the roomsdetermined where the users are present, starts capturing of theviewing/listening situations of the users who are viewing/listening tothe program detected in step S201 under control of the controller 631,and the flow proceeds to step S209. Here, the capturing signals capturedby the cameras 721 are supplied to the memory 636 to be stored thereintemporarily.

In step S209, the movie projectors 722 installed in all of the roomsregarding which determination has been made that the users are presentin step S202 starts projection of the viewing/listening situations ofthe users of the other rooms who are viewing/listening to the program,which are supplied from the memory 636, under control of the controller631, and the processing ends.

As described above, in steps S206 through S209, in the event thatdetermination is made that two or more users are present, and also thesensation mode is on, in the room of the user who is viewing/listeningto the program, the viewing/listening situations of the other users whoare viewing/listening to the same program are projected.

Thus, the movie projectors 722 can give the user who isviewing/listening to the program visual impressions as if the rooms ofother users who are viewing/listening to the same program are present inhis/her room (as if the user is in the same room as the other user whois viewing/listening to the same program). That is to say, the imagemodifying unit 722 can visually change the configurations of the rooms.As a result, the user who is viewing/listening the desired genre programin his/her room alone can be given feeling that he/she isviewing/listening to the program together with the other users (theusers of the other rooms), whereby the users can get (feel) a sense oftogetherness, presence, and so forth at the time of viewing/listening toa program.

Accordingly, by utilizing the features within the building according tothe contents of the broadcasting signal of the digital broadcastingwhich the receiving device 601 in FIG. 55 receives, the users can viewand listen to the contents (program) of the broadcasting signal in amanner that is convenient for them.

FIG. 58 is a diagram describing a state in which when the sensation modeis on, in the room of the user who is viewing/listening to a program theviewing/listening situation of another user who is viewing/listening tothe same program in another room is projected.

In FIG. 58, the user A's room #1 and the user B's room #2 are adjacentlydisposed across the wall W. Also, with the room #1, the display 622-1,speaker 623-1 (integrated with the display 622-1 in FIG. 58), camera721-1, and movie projector 722-1 are fixedly installed in apredetermined place such as the wall, ceiling of the room. Similarly,with the room #2, the display 622-2, speaker 623-2 (integrated with thedisplay 622-2 in FIG. 58), camera 721-2, and movie projector 722-2 arefixedly installed in a predetermined place such as the wall, ceiling ofthe room.

The users A and B are viewing/listening to the relay program (the genrecorresponds to soccer) of a soccer game in each of the rooms #1 and #2.The displays 622-1 and 622-2 installed in the rooms #1 and #2 aredisplaying the image of the relay program of the soccer game. Also, inFIG. 58, the voice of the relay program of the soccer game is outputtingfrom the speakers 623-1 and 623-2 which are integrated with the displays622-1 and 622-2.

The camera 721-1 in the room #1 is capturing the viewing/listeningsituation in which the user A is viewing/listening to the relay programof the soccer game in the room #1. Similarly, the camera 721-2 in theroom #2 is capturing the viewing/listening situation in which the user Bis viewing/listening to the relay program of the soccer game, which isthe same program, in the room #2.

The movie projector 722-1 in the room #1 is projecting the image of theviewing/listening situation in which the user B is viewing/listening tothe relay program of the soccer game which was captured by the camera721-2 in the room #2 on the wall. Similarly, the movie projector 722-2in the room #2 is projecting the image of the viewing/listeningsituation in which the user A is viewing/listening to the relay programof the soccer game which was captured by the camera 721-1 in the room #1on the wall, at the right side in the drawing.

Accordingly, the user A in the room #1 can obtain (physically feel) thesense of viewing/listening the relay program of the soccer game togetherwith the user B who is viewing/listening the same program in the room#2. Similarly, the user B in the room #2 can obtain (physically feel)the sense of viewing/listening the relay program of the soccer gametogether with the user A who is viewing/listening the same program inthe room #1.

With the above fourth embodiment, an arrangement has been made whereinupon the sensation mode being turned on or off at the receiving device601, the sensation mode is turned on or off regarding all of the users(user rooms) who desire the genre of the program detected by the tuner611, but an arrangement may be made wherein the sensation mode is turnedon or off for each user (user room), and the viewing/listening situationof another user who is viewing/listening to the same program isprojected only as to the users whose sensation mode is on.

For example, when the users A and B view and listen to a program in therooms #1 and #2 respectively, in the event that the users A and B areboth on in the sensation mode, the viewing/listening situation of theuser B is projected (displayed) on the wall or floor of the user A'sroom, and the viewing/listening situation of the user A is projected(displayed) on the wall or floor of the user B's room. On the otherhand, in the event that the users A and B are both have the sensationmode off, the viewing/listening situations of neither of the users areprojected on the wall or floor of the other's room.

Also, for example, of the users A and B, in the event that the user A ison in the sensation mode, but the user B is off in the sensation mode,the user B's viewing/listening situation is projected on the wall orfloor of the room #1 of the user A whose sensation mode is on. On theother hand, the user A's viewing/listening situation is not projected inthe room #2 of the user B whose sensation mode is off. However, in theevent that the user B does not want to show his/her viewing/listeningsituation to the other room's user, the user B can prevent his/herviewing/listening situation from showing (projecting) to the otherroom's user.

Also, in the event that three or more users are viewing/listening thesame program, when the movie projectors 722 project in-room a user'sviewing/listening situation captured in another room, of the other roomswhich are viewing/listening the same program, the viewing/listeningsituation of any one of the users may be projected, or theviewing/listening situations of all of the users' rooms may beprojected.

For example, in the event that four users: A, B, C, and D, areviewing/listening to the same program, the image which the movieprojector 722-1 of the room #1 of the user A projects (displays) may bethe image of the viewing/listening situation of any one of the users B,C, and D, or may be the image of the viewing/listening situations of allof the three users: B, C, and D.

With the above fourth embodiment, an arrangement has been made whereinthe broadcasting signal detected by the tuner 611 is a digitalbroadcasting signal, but the present invention is not restricted tobroadcasting signals of digital broadcasting, and can be applied toanalog broadcasting signals as well. Further, the broadcasting media isnot restricted to terrestrial wave, satellite broadcasting, CATV (CableTelevision), or the like.

Also, with the above fourth embodiment, an arrangement has been madewherein the displays 622-1 through 622-5 and speakers 623-1 through623-5 are a part of the configuration of the receiving device 601, butthe receiving device 601 may be configured so as to connect to the otherdisplays and speakers.

Further, the above fourth embodiment has been described as comprisingone tuner, but an arrangement may be made wherein two or more tuners areprovided, and the programs of two or more desired genres are received.

The above receiving device 601 can be employed as the receiving deviceof a television receiver, for example.

Note that with the present specification, steps described in a programrecorded in a recording medium include processing to be performedserially in time sequence, of course, but are not restricted to beingperformed in time sequence and also include processing to be performedin parallel or individually.

Also, with the present specification, the term “system” represents theentire equipment made up of two or more devices.

Further, the program may be processed by one computer, or may beprocessed in a dispersive manner by two or more computers. Also, theprogram may be a program which is transferred to a remote computer to beexecuted.

Further, the present invention is not restricted to a house serving as aresidence, and can be applied to any building, such as a multi-levelconcrete-and-steel building.

1. A control device for controlling components of a building,comprising: control means for changing a configuration of at least onecomponent of components making up said building; acquiring means foracquiring status information; and determining means for determining animportance of said status information acquired by said acquiring means,wherein, based on said importance of said status information acquired bysaid acquiring means, said control means applies current to ashape-variable member disposed around a point of entry in said buildingto transform said shape-variable member from a shape-fixed state to ashape-variable state to physically deform a shape of said shape-variablemember.
 2. The control device according to claim 1, wherein said statusinformation includes information indicating at least one of a status ofa person present in said component, illumination in said component,temperature in said component, volume in said component, information tobe transmitted by broadcasting, and point-in-time.
 3. The control deviceaccording to claim 1, further comprising status information storingmeans for storing a list relating to said status information.
 4. Acontrol method of a control device for controlling components of abuilding including: changing a configuration of at least one componentof components making up said building; acquiring status information; anddetermining an importance of said status information, wherein, based onsaid importance of said status information, said changing theconfiguration of at least one component of components making up saidbuilding applies current to a shape-variable member disposed around apoint of entry in said building to transform said shape-variable memberfrom a shape-fixed state to a shape-variable state to physically deforma shape of said shape-variable member.
 5. A building, comprising:control means for changing a configuration of at least one component ofcomponents making up said building; acquiring means for acquiring statusinformation; and determining means for determining an importance of saidstatus information acquired by said acquiring means, wherein, based onsaid importance of said status information acquired by said acquiringmeans, said control means applies current to a shape-variable memberdisposed around a point of entry in said building to transform saidshape-variable member from a shape-fixed state to a shape-variable stateto physically deform a shape of said shape-variable member.
 6. Thecontrol device according to claim 1, wherein, based on said statusinformation acquired by said acquiring means, said control meansdisplays images on an inner portion of said building to visually changesaid configuration.
 7. The control method according to claim 4, wherein,based on said status information, said changing the configuration of atleast one component of components making up said building displaysimages on an inner portion of said building to visually change saidconfiguration.
 8. The building according to claim 5, wherein, based onsaid status information acquired by said acquiring means, said controlmeans displays images on an inner portion of said building to visuallychange said configuration.
 9. The building according to claim 5, whereinsaid status information includes information indicating at least one ofa status of a person present in said component, illumination in saidcomponent, temperature in said component, volume in said component,information to be transmitted by broadcasting, and point-in-time. 10.The building according to claim 5, further comprising status informationstoring means for storing a list relating to said status information.11. A control device for controlling components of a building,comprising: a control unit configured to change a configuration of atleast one component of components making up said building; an acquiringunit configured to acquire status information; and a determining unitconfigured to determine an importance of said status informationacquired by said acquiring unit, wherein, based on said importance ofsaid status information acquired by said acquiring unit, said controlunit applies current to a shape-variable member disposed around a pointof entry in said building to transform said shape-variable member from ashape-fixed state to a shape-variable state to physically deform a shapeof said shape-variable member.
 12. The control device according to claim11, wherein said status information includes information indicating atleast one of a status of a person present in said component,illumination in said component, temperature in said component, volume insaid component, information to be transmitted by broadcasting, andpoint-in-time.
 13. The control device according to claim 11, furthercomprising a status information storing unit for storing a list relatingto said status information.
 14. The control device according to claim11, wherein, based on said status information acquired by said acquiringunit, said control unit displays images on an inner portion of saidbuilding to visually change said configuration.
 15. The control deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the shape-variable member is made of ashape memory alloy material.
 16. The control device according to claim1, wherein the shape-variable member is a door frame.
 17. The controldevice according to claim 1, wherein, based on said importance of saidstatus information acquired by said acquiring means, said control meanscontrols power supply to an electric socket disposed in said building tophysically change said configuration.
 18. The control method accordingto claim 4, wherein, based on said importance of said statusinformation, said changing the configuration of at least one componentof components making up said building controls power supply to anelectric socket disposed in said building to physically change saidconfiguration.
 19. The building according to claim 5, wherein, based onsaid importance of said status information acquired by said acquiringmeans, said control means controls power supply to an electric socketdisposed in said building to physically change said configuration. 20.The control device according to claim 11, wherein, based on saidimportance of said status information acquired by said acquiring unit,said control unit controls power supply to an electric socket disposedin said building to physically change said configuration.